THE MOST EVIL SHINIGAMI: Ichibei Hyosube | BLEACH: Character Analysis

Ichibe Hyosube is introduced during BLEACH’s Thousand Year Blood War arc. He is the leader of the zero division, and the founder of the shinigami. In this video I will be breaking down and analysing everything about his character including his sinister darker side. By the end of this video you will understand there is more to his character than his simple jolly positive demeanor.


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[KaiserAfini]

The shikai and bankai reflect the nature of the shinigami. Yammamoto kills whatever is in front of him with unrelenting aggression, Ichigo focuses on being a protector and Urahara's zanpakutou allows him to adapt his preparations on the fly. But what is Ichibei's approach to fighting? He takes away your identity and agency with his shikai, and then condemns you to whatever place he chooses in his order of things. That is twisted on a profound level, he is one of the most unambiguously evil beings in the setting.

[jrgenvellesen]

Ichibei is the ultimate personification of the phrase: "History is written by the victors". His power is one of the absolute best in terms of showing how a Zanpakuto is a manifestation of a Soul Reaper’s soul. I am really looking forward to seeing his fight against Yhwach in the anime!

[Grayson-Winchester]

It is no secret that the Shinigami have a bad reputation outside of seritei. I think part of the reason why they are viewed as evil are mostly the original Gotei 13 which I imagine they were like the phantom troupe. And of course that the nobles basically killed Reio and scattered his body parts.

[roseredthorns]

i find it weird that fans are upset with ichibei's depiction as an evil bastard. it's 100% appropriate for the story. everyone forgets the gotei 13 were the antagonists for the first 2 seasons. they even let monsters like kurotsuchi run a squad. the maggot's nest imprisoned people for thought crime. the structure of the gotei 13 and central 46 is not a morally good one. it's appropriate for the head of the shinigami to be an evil bastard. it wouldve been disappointing if the head of the shinigami, an organization of ruthless authoritarians, ended up being some isshin kurosaki-like good boy.

[micah]

The title is so accurate. Ichibei was really going to sacrifice Ichigo against his free will. That's some evil shit and I love that Kubo let's you know that the Soul Society isn't good either

[storageunit]

The one thing people seem to forget was Kyoraku gave those soul passes to Ichigos friends for a different reason. Not because Ichigo would end up powerful, but because if shit hit the fan Ichigo would have been sliced up and turned into the soul king

[daydreamsinpastels]

Ichibei has to be one of the most terrifying characters in Bleach. I remember reading the manga and thinking "oh he seems jolly and awesome" but as it continued becoming so uncomfortable with him. He is probably the worst of the worst even though he is the protector of the Soul King.

[Resjek]

The terrifying part of this Soul Reaper is any ordinary person that isn't holding the ability Almighty has to just die when they face this man. Ichibei is exactly that guy his skills and will is absolute. He just ran into someone that was unwilling to die and had the powers to back it up. Crazy anime crazy characters I respect the mind that made these

[mungre]

Can't Fear Your Own World describes Ichibei as pretty sociopathic, but also as a wholly necessary evil. He fulfills a role that must be fulfilled, and he takes it excruciatingly seriously.

[themutupoguy]

The more I rewatch Bleach, the more I appreciate the tension between the necessary existence of Shinigami and their moral flaws as an organization. Throughout the story, as TYBW and the fullbring Arc show, they change because of people like Ichigo. That's so cool!

[satwikkala]

Ichibe being a representation of shinigami ugliness is the reason I like villains such as Kaname, Aizen, Ginjo, Yhwach.

[williansouza]

it’s very likely that the soul king accepted to become what he did. he had the power of the almighty, so he knew everything that was going to happen, presumably up until yhwach and ichigo killed him. so the last thing he saw was his son avenging him, wrecking the hell out of the soul society and the soul reapers. but the almighty has its flaws.

[manuelacosta]

He's a representative of Soul Society's history and the ancestor's will to control. His worst aspect was his plan to mutilate and seal Ichigo as the next Spirit King. After what Ichigo did to save the worlds and its inhabitants that would've been a bleak and nightmarish future. Luckily according to WDKALY Ichibei could be called to account for his past actions.

[jamesw]

Ichibe is literally an amazing depiction of a chaotic neutral, who has moments of human consciousness, but is devoted to the goal. In 613, he legit “apologized” after Ichigo and his friends left because he knew they wouldn’t be able to defeat Yhwach and Ichigo would have to be sacrificed for the balance. However, I think this is why there may be strong hints that Ichigo’s power is one which changes Fate through the actions he made, not just Zangetsu.

Here is what Yhwach and Ichibe missed:

1) Ichigo’s relationship with Uryu and Uryu’s desire for revenge against Yhwach for killing his mother and his desire to protect his friends.

2) Neither party predicted Ryuken doing his own autopsy on his dead wife to find the silver clot that he used to make the arrow that he would bestow to Uryu during the end game.

3) Yhwach absorbing the remnants of Reio in order to counter the threat that was Ichigo was something that even Ichibe didn’t see and Ichigo again, subverting what he predicted was Fate.

4) Neither party saw that Ichigo’s empathy toward Ginjo would lead to a debt that would lead to Book of the End being used to pay back the favor to bring Ichigo’s blade back after Yhwach broke it, stole his Hollow and Quincy powers.

5) I could talk about Aizen intervening in the end game, but I’ll leave that alone.

So all these small actions (including what we learned about what Haschwalth saw when he had The Almighty) actually led to a Fate Yhwach dismissed and Ichibe couldn’t see meaning Ichigo got to survive.

But back to Ichibe, I still feel iffy about him

[abbamalami]

I remember during his battle with the yhwach I found myself rooting for yhwach coz ichibei just seemed so sinister lol, he's really the most broken shiningami and seems to be the only character with conceptual manipulation

[justsomeguywithamustache]

I don't know about others, but ichibei vs yhwach, is the most anticipated fight I'm looking forward too

[CasperAJ]

When I first read these chapters, I thought the wording was odd. The way he spoke to Yhwach was not of an enemy, but as someone who's causing trouble. It was like he was punishing him, instead of killing him.

Seeing as though he's been around for millions of years, he probably saw when Yhwach came into existence, and knew what he was.

He wanted Ichigo to "stop" him, not kill him, I found that statement really odd at the time, Yhwach was the biggest threat to everyone, but he didn't want him dead.

So if the Quincy legend is true, then a Quincy similar to Yhwach will be born again in the future, or will it not happen because ichigo's son seems like he has a portion of Yhwach's powers.

[wumbojet]

I actually like that ichibei, probably the one with the most "political" power inside the soul society is technically responsible for all evil that plagues the world so he needs to keep it balanced.

[NoHandsJames]

Honestly, I saw ichibe as more of a character with conviction that exceeds limit. He was around before the soul king and the separation of the worlds, he has seen the chaos and instability first hand. As "bad" as his actions may seem to us as the reader, he was making choices for the sake of the overall balance.

If Ichigo wasn't our MC and just a random character in the world, and we were told that he needed to be sacrificed to keep the worlds from collapsing and ending life as it exists, nobody would bat an eye at ichibe for making that decision. The sacrifice of one life to provide balance to 3 entire worlds full of beings, thats far from being unreasonable or evil. At the end of the day, that was everyone's end goal. Ichigo and the gotei 13 were both fighting to keep the universe as they know it from ending, if ichigo lost the fight but could still save everyone by becoming the next soul king, thats still in line with the end goal of saving everyone, especially since the chances are losing to ywach at that point would've killed ichigo anyway.

if you take a step back from the story as ichigo must save everyone, and take the entire story into the picture, ichibe was just going with the plan that he was most sure would save everything and it makes sense. I love ichigo and im glad it didn't turn out that way, but I can't call ichibe evil for his thought process. Save the universe over one soul reaper.

[ranxjokerrda]

I dunno about every other person but ichibei vs yhwach is one of my best fights in bleach