Looking Back: When Did Aizen Switch Places With Momo?

Looking Back: When Did Aizen Switch Places with Momo?

So this was originally going to be part of another post as part of context, then it become too long and unwieldy, so here we are.

As far as I can tell, it’s never made 100% clear at what point Aizen switched places with Momo during his fight again the Shinigami and Visords. It's not even certain how he got Momo up there in the first place, or when he activated Kyoka Suigetsu’s shikai ability to create the illusion it was himself being attacked by Soi Fon, Kyoraku and Toshiro.

It's been discussed a lot over the years across various forums, with some claiming chapter 684 finally showed when Aizen activated his shikai's power against the Shinigami, while others have come up with other ideas.

Does it really matter discussing this now that everything from this moment has been and gone for years? I guess not. Is this all just a massive plot hole I’m just reading way too much into it? Maybe. And a lot of what I have to say here isn't anything new, but I still wanted to make a post about it.

This is more just for me to finally put my thoughts together about this moment and come to a conclusion for myself. With that said I'd love to hear other theories or perspectives about when you think Aizen switched places with Momo. For reference, I'll be looking at chapters 389-392/ episodes 292 and 293 of the anime.

With all that out of the way, let’s get to it!

Aizen’s powers

I think it’s important to go over what exactly the power of Kyoka Suigetsu is before we get into pin pointing when Aizen released Kyoka Suigetsu or swapped places with Momo. However, if you feel you're familiar with Aizen powers, feel free to skip to the next section:

To start off, the shikai's power, Kanzen Saimin (‘complete hypnosis’), affects the five senses, and according to the BLEACH wiki: “It controls the five senses to the point where it can make the target misinterpret another person's form, shape, mass, feel, and smell to be an enemy's.”

However, Aizen doesn’t need something solid to stand in his place and ‘be him’ when an illusion happens. For example when Halibel went in for the kill on Aizen, it turns out she had stabbed an illusion, there was nothing there; she basically stabbed thin air. Aizen didn’t swap places with anyone or get a corpse for her to stab, he just created an illusion of himself.

When released, Kyoka Suigetsu won’t create an illusion immediately, it just means the victim is now susceptible to being manipulated through their senses and falling for whatever illusion Aizen/Kyoka Suigetsu creates at any time while it’s in it’s released state. I’ve taken Aizen ‘activating’ his zanpakuto’s power to mean he is creating an illusion/manipulating the senses of his victim, not as him releasing his zanpakuto into it’s shikai state.

Aizen can have multiple illusions operating at the same time, whether that’s creating an illusion of people or objects being in front of the victim or affecting the environment around the victim to a certain extent (for example, if we look at when Aizen used his powers on Halibel or Toshiro [in chapter 170], we don’t see at what point he was able to get behind either them, making me think he used his powers to affect their sight and hearing so they wouldn’t see him moving behind them as they went to stab the illusion of him).

The only way to avoid it’s power is to 1) for the opponent to not look upon it when it's been released if it's their first time fighting Aizen or 2) touch the blade before the shikai's ability is activated.

It can only affect the senses so far. For instance, it doesn’t seem affect how one sees their environment (for example, Aizen can’t make you perceive you’re inside a building when you’re actually outside of it) or create some massive illusion bigger than the size of a human.

If I’m wrong about any of this let me know, but as far as I can tell this is how Kyoka Suigetsu’s shikai works.

When did Aizen activate Kyoka Suigetsu's complete hypnosis?

Chapter 684 may have revealed when Aizen activated Kyokya Suigetsu's power. In the chapter, Ichigo says he was able to react to Kyoka Suigetsu because while on his way to battle Yhwach he got the same strange feeling he got when Aizen “cast Kyoka Suigetsu on [the Shinigami]” (VIZ translation) in chapter 391; the panel that’s shown is when Aizen negated Soi Fon’s shikai ability.If we take this literally, this suggests he activated his shikai's ability after her second strike on him. This also suggests he actually was wounded by her (Soi Fon had stabbed him once and then tried to activate her shikai ability, Nigeki Kessatsu, just before stabbing him a second time) and that his right arm was frozen by Toshiro:

I wouldn’t have a problem with this being the moment it happened, except my main issue with this is after Aizen dissolved the whole illusion in chapter 392, he’s completely unscathed – no blood or tears/rips in his clothes or a patch of ice on his right sleeve:

The lack of ice you can get away with by saying he just brushed it off, but there would have to be blood or rips in his clothes from where Soi Fon supposedly stabbed him. The Aizen here is not an illusion and it’s made pretty clear from that point on this is the real one, given what happens in his next fight against Yamamoto.

I doubt it's an art error given that every panel of him after reveal is consistent in showing he isn't injured; also at the start of the chapter, Kubo showed where ‘Aizen’ had been injured, including where Soi Fon had stabbed him in the stomach:

If Aizen were really injured by Soi Fon, Kubo would have shown it.

As a result, this makes me think Aizen didn’t use Kyoka Suigetsu’s powers at that exact moment where he negated Soi Fon's shikai ability, but more likely some time just before this moment.

In terms of when he released Kyoka Suigetsu into it's shikai state:

Gin comments in chapter 390 that the others have no clue how Aizen’s power works [after Toshiro says he won’t even give him a chance to release Kyoka Suigetsu], implying that Aizen had already released it at this stage.

If Hirako’s pages in chapter 392 are any indication, he thinks it happened even before the battle began (he has a flashback to chapter 389, which is when Aizen vs the Shinigami and Visords started; Toshiro was the first to attack, which Aizen comments on and Toshiro commends him for not using his zanpakuto powers).

It’s been implied that Aizen just constantly has his zanpakuto’s shikai ability always activated, there’s never a point where it’s not ‘off’ while he’s in battle.

With all of the above in mind, I’m thinking Aizen released his zanpakuto long before he battled them, but he didn’t actually activate his shikai's ability until later in the battle, most likely around the time Soi Fon confronted him.

When exactly did Aizen swap places with Momo?

We get a few potential indicators:

A quick recap of Aizen vs Soi Fon, Kyoraku and Toshiro: in chapter 391, 'Aizen' goes to draw his zanpakuto to fight Soi Fon, but Toshiro prevents him from doing so when he freezes his arm. As a result, he finally gets injured when Soi Fon manages to stab him in the stomach once, then again to activate her shikai ability, only for 'Aizen' to the negate it and break his arm free of Toshiro’s ice, about to attack her. After that, Kyoraku injures him (according to the anime he stabs him under his left shoulder blade and through to his chest?) and of course Toshiro throws everything he’s got into stabbing him through the middle of the chest, slicing his zanpakuto through him to the hilt (and in the anime if the ice coming out the wound is any indication, maybe freezing a section of his insides). The beginning of chapter 392 shows 'Aizen’s' wounds, with Soi Fon and Toshiro’s being shown very clearly. However, after the reveal, we see the real Aizen has no damage at all, not wounded by either Soi Fon, Kyoraku or Toshiro, showing he never engaged in battle with the three.

It’s not until chapter 392 that Ichigo calls out and breaks the illusion, revealing Aizen had swapped places with Momo. Some think Ichigo was shocked by the battle and only found his voice to speak up after Momo had been stabbed, or that because Aizen was a lot faster than Ichigo back then, he moved with such speed Ichigo didn’t see what he did and only registered the aftermath of whatever he did to get Momo up there. Me personally, I’ve always been in the camp that Aizen likely used his powers to manipulate their sense of hearing, blocking out Ichigo’s voice to them (basically Ichigo was calling out to them long before but it was only after Momo was stabbed that they heard him, which was when Aizen chose to reveal who they’d really harmed).

Momo’s zanpakuto is still in its sheath when the reveal happens. This suggests either:

Aizen put her up there when Soi Fon was going to attack him, meaning it was actually Momo's arm Toshiro froze. Basically Momo saw Soi Fon about to stab her, went to grab Tobiume to defend herself, but Toshiro froze her arm before she could. Only problem with this is [while she is a master in kido] I don’t see Momo being powerful enough to negate Soi Fon’s shikai ability using either kido or her reiatsu. Also there isn’t any ice on her arm afterward when the illusion is dropped. Or,

she had no time to even think about drawing her weapon try to defend herself; Aizen put her up there just as an attack from either Soi Fon, Kyoraku, or Toshiro was coming in and she was inflicted by it.

Also upon this reveal we see her injuries. Aside from being stabbed by Toshiro, there's no sign of Soi Fon having injured her (maybe because her garments are black and make this less obvious??) but there’s also a random tear in her uniform on her left side as seen here:

I hate this moment so so so much ;_;

This could be from Kyoraku’s attack, even though there isn’t any blood to show this, but even in the panels before this one there were a few panel showing 'Aizen's' chest injury without any blood on him.

So from this I'm thinking Aizen swapped places with Momo either just before Soi Fon's second strike or after it, meaning I think Momo was likely injured by Kyoraku as well as Toshiro.

With all of the above in mind here’s how I think it went down:

Aizen activated his shikai sometime before the battle begun in chapter 389, but he didn’t create any illusions or manipulate anyone's senses until much later.

He fought everyone in chapters 389 and 390 and took down Komamura, Rose, Love, and Lisa with Ichigo watching on in shock.

When Soi Fon stepped in, Aizen spoke with her for most of the conversation but created an illusion immediately after he comments on her clones.

While Soi Fon talks with Aizen's illusion, the real Aizen flash-stepped down to Izuru and Iba and somehow got through the kido barrier cast over the injured Shinigami. He used his shikai before coming down, making it appear as though he’s still up there talking with Soi Fon from their perspective. Ichigo gets that strange feeling after Aizen creates the illusion, but he has no idea what is happening at the time and Aizen is too fast for him to perceive he's just moved away from Soi Fon.

Aizen grabbed Momo (who at this point Izuru healed up enough to remain conscious and maybe sit up but not completely understand what’s going on and is still in great pain) and flash-stepped back up just as Soi Fon has stabbed his illusion the first time. While flash-stepping to the ground and then back up to Soi Fon, Aizen may have used kido to conceal himself (Momo mentions using kido to conceal herself while she was setting up her kido net to fight against Mila, Sun-Sun, and Apacci; as she's considered a master in kido, I assume a Shinigami at captain level or higher could use kido in this way as well).

Now one of two things could have happened:

Aizen put Momo in front of Soi Fon, making it that she stabbed Momo in the stomach once, so her power has no effect. Illusion Aizen explains this as him negating her power, when in reality Soi Fon only stabbed her target once; Momo might be holding Soi Fon's arm in utter confusion about what just happened and trying to get her pull out Suzumebachi. This might be why Kubo used that particular panel in chapter 684, perhaps saying this was when Momo took Aizen's place. Or

Soi Fon just stabbed his illusion a second time, hence why it had no effect (Aizen could probably make it look like his illusion-self is powerful enough to appear not effected by her shikai ability), and while Soi Fon is distracted he puts Momo in his illusion's place on the ice where she creates a shadow and gets stabbed by Kyoraku. This might explain why Momo doesn’t appear to have Suzumebachi’s butterfly-shaped stamp on her or any sign of Soi Fon having wounded her.

In both scenarios, this all happens in a matter of seconds, given how fast Aizen and Soi Fon can be, so what has happened doesn’t register with Ichigo until it’s too late - and if Aizen used kido to conceal himself, Ichigo wouldn't have seen him until he had Momo there. Ichigo sees Aizen putting Momo where the real Aizen once stood, but he is so bewildered at first he doesn't call out.

When Kyoraku attacks, Ichigo starts calling out to the Shinigami when he realizes what’s going on but none of them can hear him (Aizen having manipulated their hearing to block him out) and he doesn’t get involved because of what they told him earlier about Aizen’s shikai.

While all of this is happening, Aizen flash-steps back down to the ground and conceals himself (either by kido or affecting the sight of everyone to just not see him there) and casting an illusion where Momo was to give the impression she's still there. After Kyoraku's attack, Shinji activates his shikai on ‘Aizen’, making everything appear backwards to Momo.

Aizen watches Toshiro stab Momo, and Ichigo is shocked into silence for a moment. Aizen lets everyone think it’s over for a minute and uses illusion Momo to draw Izuru and Iba away from the injured Shinigami. He reveals the illusion by finally letting them hear Ichigo (who finds his voice again) and unveiling himself to Iba and Izuru, who he comes up behind and cuts down. And the rest is history.

And now imagine this whole thing from Momo's perspective. I'll be talking more about this in my other upcoming post, but in short:

The angst, the angst!!

Other things to note about this moment:

What's up with Aizen's inner monologue before he gets stabbed by Toshiro?

We hear Aizen’s inner thoughts moments before he gets stabbed by Toshiro at the end of chapter 391. Honestly, I think this was Kubo trying to trick the reader/viewer (I guess you could say we were under Kyoka Suigetsu's influence too :P). The part where Aizen thinks about Toshiro rushing into battle could be real though; he's probably thinking it while he's on the ground watching all of this happen.

Why Momo?

The answer is obvious: she is the one who will get the most rise out of Toshiro when the reveal is made. Here's the thing though: I've always felt like there was something more behind this.

Aizen's swap would have worked just as well with Rangiku. Rangiku means a lot to Toshiro and he would also be enraged if this had happened to her, likely to the point of charging at Aizen. The main reason Aizen didn't pick her I think is because of Gin; Aizen knew he had a connection to Rangiku and couldn't risk jeopardizing his partnership with him...at this stage (Aizen knew Gin intended to betray him, but he was curious to see how).

Also, am I the only one who feels like Aizen hates Momo in particular? He tried to have her killed by Toshiro, but when that didn't work, he tried to kill her himself. That also didn't work so he tries to get her killed again in him vs everyone, and thankfully this also didn't work. Not only that, before he stabbed her in the Soul Society arc, he pretended to be his old self for longer than necessary. He could have acted for several seconds (just enough to let her guard down) before he rushes at her and stabs her. But this guy drags it out to the point that he's hugging, reassuring, and thanking her, ensuring she felt safe and happy, before he stabs her and gives her a look of contempt after she realises what's happened; he even smiles after leaving her to die and speaks about her to Toshiro as if she is an object of pity and irritation. In reality this was all probably dragged for dramatic effect and I'm just reading waaaaaay too much into it...but still!

Aizen seemed particularly brutal towards Toshiro

Aside from singling him out to antagonize and rile up, Aizen wounded Toshiro far more severely compared to the others he'd taken down. As far as I can see, Toshiro was the only one in the 'Aizen vs everyone' battle to lose his limbs, the others were taken down with deep cuts to their torso's and sides:

I may look into this in my upcoming post, but in the meantime this is just an observation I've had about the battle for a while now. (EDIT: you can now read this post here)

And with that I'll leave it here. I wasn't going to make a post about this, but as I said at the start, what started off as a bit of context for an upcoming post about how I think Toshiro and Momo reconciled after Aizen's defeated ballooned into this.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read to end if you did, and I'd like to know your thoughts on anything here or just about this moment in general.