Mastermind · Anime

Sōsuke Aizen

The betrayal that was planned a hundred years before chapter one

Threat index 88 Bleach 2001 #9 Smartest

Attribute scores

Power92

Intellect96

Menace88

Fear factor78

Cultural impact82

Charisma90

Editorial estimates on a 0–100 scale, calibrated against every other character in the index. Not official canon.

Who they are

Aizen spends the first arc of his series as a gentle, bespectacled captain who is murdered early on. The reveal that he staged his own death, orchestrated every event so far, and has an ability that makes anyone who has seen it unable to trust their own eyes is one of the best executed twists in serialized manga. He removes his glasses and becomes a different character entirely.

Defining traits

Total illusion controlCentury-long planningImmense combat abilityEffortless composureManipulates allies and enemies alike

What makes them dangerous

You cannot be certain that any confrontation with him is actually happening.

And what undoes them

He wants to be acknowledged as beyond everyone, and that need is the crack in an otherwise perfect plan.

Things you might not know

His power only requires a target to have seen it activate once, which makes every subsequent scene unreliable.
The moment he removes his glasses and pushes back his hair is one of the most parodied panels in the medium.
Kubo has said the design was intentionally forgettable so readers would not scrutinize him early.