Bleach/Shikai Open Two/WMG

=== This is a list of Wild Mass Guesses which are still possibly true. Just for Fun and silly guesses go on the silly page. If a WMG is Jossed, please move it to the jossed page, if it is Confirmed, please move it to the confirmed page. ===

Please add new entries to the bottom of the page.

Hinamori can use Garganta

 * At least two other Shinigami have used this technique and she's highly proficient in kido and how else would she have arrived at the if not for the ability to travel through dimensions as Yamamoto doesn't seem the type to bring someone into a battle when they are clearly mentally unstable
 * ...Except for the fact that they're in Soul Society...
 * They may have transferred Karauka town to Soul Society and created a fake Kakaura in its place to lure in Aizen. the anime reinforced this idea (dubious evidence I know) by having a soul reaper in another town feel Yamaoto's huge release of spirit pressure.
 * Even if that is the case, Garganta are only used to travel to and from Hueco Mundo. Shinigami have other methods of moving between the Soul Society and the world of the living.
 * double-checked and you're correct so I suppose the guess would be:"Hinamori can use a kido that lets her independently move between worlds" as again Yamamoto would probably give specific orders not to let Hinamori through

Wonderweiss Margera is a Vasto Lorde.
It's already been mentioned a couple times on this page, but I thought it needed to have its own theory. Evidence:
 * He was human-sized pre-shimigamification and one of the characteristics of Vasto Lordes is that they are human sized.
 * Most of the Espada were present for his "birth" and Aizen even waited for Ulquiorra and Yammy to arrive before beginning. This suggests he is very important to Aizen's plans. It also seems significant that he's the only arrancar we've seen being created.
 * The Soul Society rates him as being powerful enough to be an Espada.
 * Tousen describes him as "pure," but is deliberately ambiguous as to what that means because even he isn't sure whether it's pure good, pure evil, or something else entirely.
 * According to the latest spoilers,

Masaki Kurosaki and Aizen Sosuke have a history together.
Here is my list of theories:
 * Masaki is Kyoka Suigetsu.
 * They're siblings.
 * They're lovers, or were, before she met Isshin.
 * Masaki is an Arrancar.
 * Aizen is Masaki's father.

Aizen is related to Ichigo.
Aizen may possibly be the Evil Uncle to Ichigo, Ichigo's real dad or, going with the previous post, possibly a (rather young looking) grandfather

The King of Soul Society actually lives in Hell.
The Royal Guard's true purpose is to punish those who go to Hell. If anyone tries to access the King's realm (coughAizencough), they'll be trapped in Hell.

The king of soul society is two feet tall and has pink hair.
Who else would be powerful enough to give Blood Knight Kenpachi a nickname like Ken-chan, and keep a number of captains as supply lines for candy money (Shinigami Womens' Society) and sweet buns (Byakuya)?
 * That was already proposed above, but it's so cute!

The King is Yamamoto.
He just doesn't tell anybody because he likes to be besides the other captains.

The vast majority of Soul Society was designed to craptacular to encourage souls to choose Reincarnation.
Well this theory explains why Soul Society's population isn't in nthe billions at least.
 * Note that much of what we see of Soul Society is District 78 in Rukia's flashback and District 79 (Yachiru's description of her past and the Bount Arc), so this seems to be Accentuate the Negative.

Chizuru dyes her hair
Ichigo and Orihime both have natural red hair, and both were bullied in the past for it. Chizuru is also a redhead, but her hair isn't the same colour as naturally red hair, while that of Ichigo and Orihime is. Evidently, she dyed hers red to be more like the girl she loves.
 * Perhaps she isn't bullied because she's scary. I wouldn't bully a girl that could grope my breasts in a surprise attack.

Vasto Lorde are what happens when beings like Chad die and aren't purified/resist purification.
Their souls are already high-powered, and readily compatible with hollowfication; they will attract Hollow souls like ghosts to captain-level Shinigami, and subjugate anything up to and including Huge hollows almost (or completely) unconsciously, absorbing even Menos and possibly, with a fight, Adjuchas. This is why they're so rare; not only do they have incredibly unusual prerequisites in their pre-death form, but they tend to kill all but the strongest Hollows who try to find them without noticing and may have a tendency to burn out their spirit bodies when they get too strong, and possibly small pocket dimensions before they get control over their powers. This works especially well with "Chad's Abuelo will turn out to have become a Vasto Lorde", since spirit powers appear to be inheritable.
 * Don't forget: a Vasto Lorde Luchador.

Barragan screwed up
When Aizen told Captain Yamamoto that he would destroy the captains and then create the Key in Soul Society, he knew about the pillars. However, he knew that going after them would be a bad move. Why? Because the pillars would clearly be guarded, and sending anyone to go after them would likely result in that Arrancar's death. He had intended for all of the Arrancar to attack the first line, while those needed to guard the pillars could only watch (after all, SS could not let those pillars fall). After the first line was defeated/subdued, THEN he could worry about Karakura. Basically, by choosing the "simpler" plan, Barragan has made a severe tactical error, and has allowed the forces to be thinned to the point where SS will surely win.

Chad will end up Walking the Earth after the series is over
It just seems fitting that he would end up doing so.
 * So, Chad's Simon?

Hinamori Momo has a Bankai
Based on episode 224 when she whips Tobiume's shikai out without invoking it, something that can only be done if you've got bankai. I'll be the first to say that it might just be an error on the part of the anime staff.
 * It may very well be. The manga still had her invoke Tobiume's name before using it. That being said, giving Hinamori a bankai would be an even bigger Ass Pull compared to how people raged on Hitsugaya beating Halibel, . Unlike Hitsugaya, Hinamori spent all those time on BED, resting and trying to recover from her trauma. How the hell did she find a way to train for Bankai in that time? Maybe it would make sense if she's a genius, but as it is already established, she's more of a hard work person and attains Vice Captain status due to hard work, not because she's a genius. Though it would be very sweet if she does attain bankai.
 * Well she is a kido goddess, or maybe she did some inner mind training while in bed.
 * If she is as smart as Urahara, perhaps she can do it in that matter of time.
 * Maybe part of her Bankai training/test was to get over her denial?
 * She still referred Aizen as 'Captain Aizen'. While she does good in coming up so far as joining the battle, I think there's just one TINY PART in her that she's not really completely over it (just 99% over). That, I think, would be what makes it impossible for her to attain Bankai if the test is 'get over her denial'. I'd seriously think if Hinamori was undergoing the same training like Ichigo, the materialization of Tobiume will force her to stop calling Aizen as 'Captain', at least just dropping the title rather than calling him "BASTARD", if she wants to 'pass the test'.

The whole plot is a means of weakening the Shinigami
Because Shinigami and Hollows are different ends of the same spectrum and they form a part of reality's balance. Should one side gain too much of an advantage, all existance would collaspe. Its obvious that before Aizen the Shinigami haven't had to strain themselves, were growing in number and power and the only reason Hollows could still survive is that they haven't bothered mobilising in numbers. I mean, without the Ryoka invasion their hadn't been an issue of guarding the Court of Pure Souls in centuries, why do they have what seems to be dozens if not hundreds of Shinigami sitting around doing nothing? Have the Shinigami always been so paranoid. So in conclusion, Aizen is either doing this to restore balance or is being used by a higher power without his knowledge.
 * Or maybe worse: His real plan is not to destroy Karakura town, but saturating it with spiritual particles, summoning something....

If Kubo Tite was allowed to put in more Yuri into the Bleach storyline he would
Chizuru alone is pretty good enough proof that he is a Yuri Fanboy. But there is of course the infamous subtext regarding about how Soi Fon can be regarding Yoruichi. And remember that infamous scene with Matsumoto and Orihime in which Orihime is crying on Matsumoto? Sounds innocent right? Well Orihime was crying on Matsumoto's breasts while Matsumoto is completely nude. (And to make the Yuri undertones a little bit more clear is before that Matsumoto was doing a suggestive pose while nude on top of Orihime after when she was done tickling here. Which was a bit more blatant in the Manga.) However Bleach is Shounen so Kubo had to tone it down. But if Bleach was a Seinen series one could only wonder what Kubo Tite would have done in that regard.
 * The idea loses steam when you consider Orihime was crying out of her feelings for Ichigo. Coupled with all the subtext that Soi Fon's crush is one-sided (Yoruichi and Urahara act like a couple half the time), it's unlikely that these instances are anything more than token fanservice.
 * True I know its just fanservice and I never said it was anything more than that. (Sorry for any misunderstanding) Though whether if Kubo would have done more if he could now thats the question.

There is a deeper connection between Aizen and Kisuke then we've been lead to believe.
Think about it. Both of them seem to specialize in using doubles to get close to people. They both have Hollow conections and seem to have used very familiar techniques. And it would fit with theories that bleach is really a battle between Aizen and Kisuke.
 * This, this, a thousand times this. Bleach is like Schlock Mercenary. It's a massive conflict primarily shown from the perspective of some of the more influential pawns.

There was something else doing the job of stopping souls becoming Hollow chow before the shinigami came along
And whatever it was, it was dog-shaped. This actually makes sense for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the idea of dogs as protectors/guides of the dead crops up all over the place (interestingly, it's never said what they were protecting them from), so maybe some people saw something before the shinigamis started re-writing memories. Secondly, it would go a long way towards explaining Komamura.
 * nWoD werewolves, anyone?
 * Sirius was one of the predecessors of the shinigami, and his mission was to protect Harry Potter. He was hastily recalled back to the proto-Soul Society during the fight in the Ministry of Magic, and the veil was a disguised portal to the proto-Soul Society.
 * Wolf was most probably a shinigami precursor, due to the fact that he often chased the malevolent souls of the dead away from the living.

The King of Soul Society is a Cosmic Horror.
He's locked away not for hiis safety, but everyone else's. After becoming King, he hit somew sort of power increase singularity and had to be sealed off before killing everyone. He might also be Hell, and the key is only necessary to escape, not to enter.

Soi Fon's zanpakuto is bipolar
It would certainly explain the vast differences between her Shikai and her Bankai. Think about it. Most of the time Suzumebachi is probably as calm and methodical as Soi Fon herself, but when the fight drags on too long or the enemy is too strong it gets fed up with fighting and just wants to get rid the opponents. Hence why Jakuh? Raik?ben is large and unwieldly, yet at the same time immensly destructive. It is unsuitable for a stealthy approach because, by the time Soi Fon decides to use her Bankai it has allready stopped about being stealthy and just wants to finish off the enemy with one last strike.

Ulquiorra was stronger than Halibel
Supposedly Aizen did not know about, making it entirely possible that it was not calculated into his rank. This would explain why he could lay the hurt on Ichigo while Halibel, who is ranked above him,.
 * Ulquiorra said he never showed Aizen that. Doesn't mean Aizen never knew about it.
 * Alternately: The Espada ranks were calculated with an average Bleach character in mind. Since Aizen was very thorough, this would undoubtedly include the often-excessive Chaste Hero tendencies. Thus, his reasoning was, if, say, Ichi were to have to fight Halibel, he would promptly be incapacitated by embarrassment and quite possibly a serious nosebleed. However, if we consider it from the perspective of Captain Shota, who has to put up with Matsumoto's constant booby harassment, one of Halibel's primary attack forms is useless, since he's been inoculated. Thus, against anyone but Hitsugaya, Halibel would actually have been stronger than Emocar. She just happened to get the wrong opponent.
 * Hitsugaya did better than one would expect based on rank because his elemental powers match up well against Halibel's.

The reason that Bleach seems to be getting more and more incoherent as it goes is because Tito Kube wants fans to lose interest.
He's stated he wants to be a fashion designer after he's done with Bleach. He keeps creating more and more characters to show off more and more fashions, all while he muddies up the story. He wants to kill off the series so he can get to his important fashion designing, and hates the fact it's so popular it just won't die!
 * You know what? This Troper believes you, and thinks it's true to at least some extent for the other two big and popular shonen, Naruto and One Piece. This is why I can't stand the bashing for Kishimoto and Kubo; having to keep drawing a series you obviously don't care about anymore for the sake of proffesionalism and keeping face would probably seriously suck, on top of the deadlines and crazy fans. Those guys are human too you know. You'd probably hate the situation enough to delibately sabotage your own series too. (Although Oda seems to be dealing with it by making the pace insanely fast and resolving as much as possible in a relatively short period of time; you can still tell he wants it to end pretty soon without ruining the quality of the story.)

Luppi was not intended to be a permanent replacement for Grimmjow.
"Hey, you see that guy over there? The homicidal maniac who got demoted because he lost his arm? Go ahead and fix that arm." Seriously, what else did Aizen think would happen? It would also explain why Luppi got his ass handed to him by Captain Bankaiwhore if he was just an Espada temp.
 * It would also explain how he bypassed (unreleased) Yammy, Aaroniero, Szyael and Zomari, despite seeming less powerful than they are.

The King of Soul Society is not an Eldritch Abomination, but rather the conduit for one (Yes, another one).
Hollows are natural evolution of Souls that don't move on. Shinigami, therefore, have to come from somewhere else. Before the Soul Society spiritually aware humans fought the Hollows on their own; but they were slowly loosing. A group of these humans managed to make contact with a sealed Eldritch Abomination and it empowered them to fight the hollows, making them Shinigami. The human who started this became the King.

Unfortunately, as Shinigami become more powerful they also become more and more corrupted by the Eldritch Abomination, who's using them as a way to wear down the seal on its prison. While the King was somewhat protected from this influence, he saw how those who were empowered along side him and later were becoming corrupted. At some point, as the King and the other original Shinigami were becoming more and more corrupted, the newer shinigami realized what was happening and managed to Seal them away. The King, of course, realized this and went along with it, knowing he could only hold out against the Eldritch Abomination's influence for so long. This is the origin of the 0th division; they're not guards, but rather Shinigami who are becoming too powerful, and therefore too corrupted, and have to be sealed away as well.

Over time the King has become little more than an avatar of the Sealed Evil In A Can, and this is why no one has seen him. Aizen realized this, and began his entire plot as a way to create something that can fight the Eldritch Horror, namely the Arracanar and the Visored who are outside of its influence due to being part Hollow. Of course, Aizen is being manipulated by the Eldritch Horror to kill the king, thereby breaking the Seal and not only freeing the Eldritch Horror, but also breaking the Conduit, thereby rendering the Shinigami powerless to fight said Eldritch Horror.

Gantenbainne (the Privaron Espada Chad defeated) has switched sides...
...but it just hasn't been shown since he hasn't turned up. When he does, he be with Unohana, fighting the Arrancar so that Unohana can hold off for the big reveal of her power. He seems like not only a reasonable person but a really likable character, so part of this is hope. Dordonii (who Ichigo beat) would also be here, except he was likely killed fighting the Exequias. If either died of his wounds from Ichigo and is thus in Soul Soceity, or defeated the Exequias, he will join the Shinigami, or at least Ichigo.
 * Actually, Dordonii is possibly dead, Unohana is in FKT now but it'd great to see them all again.

Yami and Ulqiorra were friends because they were the only true Vasto Lordes within the ranks of the Espada.
Both had immense strength, but one decided to become the Zeroth Espada; the other kept his true strength hidden from Aizen by keeping back his true release. Despite the disparity in their ranks, they always accompanied each other everywhere. Yami was quite disappointed when Ulqiorra died, and Ulqiorra made sure that Yami survived their initial recon of Karakura, and even deigned to retrieve his arm before their retreat. Both were the only Espada without Fracción, (ignoring Aaroniero, who can be explained away due to the nature of his powers). Ulqiorra is also the only Espada shown so far to use the Cero Oscura, despite the four Espada above him having released their swords in battle.
 * This troper thinks Yammy, Starrk, Barragan and Halibel are Vasto Lordes, while Ulquiorra was an adjuchas who was close to becoming a Vasto Lorde when he Shinigamified. Yammy, Starrk, Barragan and Hallibel get one released form at Shinigamied-Vasto-Lorde level, espadas 5 and down get one release at Shinigamied-Adjuchas level, while Ulquiorra gets A Shinigamied-Adsjuchas release and the ability to temporarily upgrade to a Vasto-Lorde release.

Grand Fisher was an Adjuchas-class hollow, and could have been an Espada-class arrancar if he'd been made right.
As a hollow, Grand Fisher had been on Soul Society's 'Wanted' list for over 50 years and had fought and killed several Shinigami, so it's established that he's already pretty powerful, and he's about the right size for an Adjuchas. His Arrancar form is grotesque but still more human than, say, Aaroniero, and certainly more human than mooks like Iceringer. In addition, he manifests a weapon even in his released state, somethng that only exceptionally powerful arrancar seem able to do (every Espada from Noitora onwards has a weapon of some description even when released, as did Neliel. Only two non-Espada arrancar have weapons while released (that is, assuming I'm remembering correctly): Ggio Vega and Mila-Rose, both of whom are Fraccion to very powerful Espadas and thus of above-average strength in their own right). Also, when Isshin is talking about the basics of Zanpakuto size, he comments something to the effect of 'if captains didn't control the size of their swords, they'd all be the same size as yours' - suggesting that Grand Fisher is indeed as powerful as a captain and simply didn't know how to control his power. If he'd survived and been turned into a perfect arrancar, this troper thinks he could've become on par with the Espada - which, let's face it, would have been a lot better than what actually did happen.
 * This troper would have to disagree. I mean, for one thing,if Grand Fisher had been adjuchas then our plucky hero would be extremely dead. I mean, even with a sword described as "blunted by anger" (not sure if it's literally blunt,, it is a zanpakuto) and more or less without using ki, ichigo manged to do serious damage to Grand Fisher. Meanwhile, to take down a mere Gillian, Ichigo had to use what appeared to be the ancestor of Getsuga Tenshou to even convince it to retreat, much less cause a major, apparent wound. Meanwhile, an adjuchas could probably easily defeat early Ichigo with one strike. Plus, even the screechy dude took down a couple of shinigami, the regular ones are basically short-ranged stormtroopers. And hiding? You don't know where they come out, and they can retreat whenever they want. It's not that hard to hide, especially if you can wound your pursuers.

Ururu is based on Soi Fon.
She was a (probably intentionally) imperfect copy made to help Yoruichi feel better about beign unable to return to the ranks of the shinigami assassins with only Urahara to comfort her. Ururu may be slightly flanderized from what Urahara recalls of Soi Fon, but she is really focused, and follows orders possibly too well for her own good. Also,.

Kyon's soul candy pill is the Key.
Like when Urahara stuck  into. As long as he's in the stuffed animal or Ichigo's body, it can't be found. That was the real reason Urahara didn't want Rukia to have it, not (just) because it was defective.
 * Kyon, you say?

The first Hollow and Soul Reaper were Cain & Abel
When Cain killed Abel, God marked him and told him to wander the earth forever. The mark was a mask, and Cain became the first Hollow. The dead Abel, meanwhile, saw what his brother had become and took up arms to stop him, becoming the first Soul Reaper.
 * Alternatively, when Cain killed Abel, Abel's grief and rage over his murder by his brother led to him becoming the first Hollow. Cain was marked by God and told to wander the earth forever, hunting the twisted ghost of his brother, becoming the first Soul Reaper.
 * Alternatively, Cain and Abel were actually the same person with split personality and... hang on. Wrong anime.

Urahara and Tessai are Visored.
Because yeah.

A hypothesis:

 * A cero + Arrancar blood = Gran Ray Cero. Arrancar ? Visored. Getsuga Tensho ? Cero Oscuras. Ichigo's blood on his blade + Getsuga Tensho = ?
 * Whatever the result, it'll be awesome.

Wonderweiss is a damaged Vasto Lorde.
When Wonderweiss is being turned into arrancar he is both human sized as well as covered in bandages for no explained reason. Also Wonderweiss's form is a child and he seems to be autistic or has some other mental disorder. Also it is possible Aizen took Wonderweiss by force and was injured.
 * The "bandages" are apparently part of the Shinigamification process. Grand Fisher was similarly covered in bandages when he transformed into an Arrancar.

Rukia is a lesbian, and in love with Orihime
She's never expressed romantic interest in Ichigo or Renji, her "relationships will hinder a Shinigami" speech is set to a shot of Orihime playing with her friends, there are at least three pieces of really, really subtexty art done by Kubo himself that could imply at least one of them is hot for the other, and Orihime's probably the only person Rukia is consistently gentle/deredere for. (Watch this theory be ignored.)
 * This Troper approves!
 * This. This Troper completely approves.
 * Third. I've been thinking about this ever since the cover for chapter 228.
 * I've been thinking about this ever since Bleach came out.

Orihime is in "love" with every member of the main group (Ichigo, Rukia, Uryuu, Tatsuki) except for Chad, who's more like a surrogate brother.
She acts all peppy-happy even when she's revealed to have been hurting inside and gets the "concerned" face for everyone that she got for Ichigo early in the series, and has acted all "feely" (emotively, not like Chizuru) towards everyone but (if this troper recalls correctly, correct me if I'm wrong) Chad, who she tends to act towards more as a "crutch" "protector" like the idea of her dead brother (as opposed to Ichigo, which is more of a "Big Handsome Hero Squeeee" sort of thing when not putting on the "concerned" face). Tatsuki is the First Girl (semi-genderswapped), though First Girl Wins may not be the scenario. Uryu is the Betty to Ichigo's Veronica, and the Veronica to Tatsuki, and Rukia is the Mysterious Foreign Girl that she fell for listening to Ichigo talking about her.
 * What? She is, indeed, in "love" with Chad, too. Because she probably would love to call him nii-san in some fetishy fakecest or something.

Orihime's powers result from both Ichigo and Sora.
The common fanon explanation for Orihime's powers is that they are shinigami powers manifested differently because she's alive, just like Chad's are hollow powers manifested differently because he is alive. However, several of the Vizards (especially Hachi) compared Orihime's powers to their own. This would imply that they have both a hollow and shinigami component. This could mean that the time Sora spent stalking and attacking her and when he pushed her soul out of her body affected her in a similar way to Ichigo's constantly leaking spiritual power.

Ichigo's next super-awesome transformation power will be for his Hollow Side to pull of it's mask and become an Aracanar.
Thus giving him even more super-awesome rather illogical power.

At the end of the Hueco Mundo arc, the ENTIRE story will be revealed to have been All Just a Dream
Look at the title pages for some of the chapters; don't they seem a little... odd? My theory is that the offbeat ones (i.e. Rukia with a frog on her head, Ichigo and co. walking out of a subway, etc.) show what's ACTUALLY going on in the "real" world.
 * This will go on for several chapters only to turn out to have been a dream caused by Aizen's Absolute Hypnosis.

Aizen fooled Momo into running into his sword with Kyouka Suigetsu's power instead of just stabbing her all mafia style.
Remember Kyouka Suigetsu ablity is basicly fool people with illusions so all he would have to do is to make it look to Momo that he was wide open for a hug when in reality he had Kyouka Suigetsu leveled right at her so SHE JUMPED INTO A SWORD. RETARD!
 * I like the idea, but from the blood gushing out of the wound it can be seen that Aizen is only stabbing her the moment he says "Goodbye". Unless Aizen used his Zanpakutou to create the Illusion of the Blood to the reader, and this just doesn't make sense.
 * Unless his powers extend to the real world... in which case we're all screwed.

Kenpachi's Zanpakutou is too afraid of Kenpachi to rebel against him for the current Zanpakutou rebellion filler arc
I'd be afraid of Kenpachi too after all what mostly makes Kenpachi well Kenpachi is not his sword but his own overwelming power.
 * Or maybe she's not rebelling because she knows he'd use that against her (I'm assuming it's a she, since, you know, the manliest the shinigami, funnier is for him to have a female sword spirit). There's also the theory that she's Yachiru, so, Ken's sword spirit doesn't need to rebel, she already rules over her Shinigami!
 * His Zanpakutou is a 'he'. Nnoitra refferred to it as such.

Soul Society (and possibly Hell) are a purgatory, and "physical" pain inflicted on the soul is required for penance.
Souls that die in the Soul Society are reincarnated on earth, but souls that are killed by a Zanpakuto or similar weapons disappear forever, as far as anyone can tell. The strongest people tend to be the most evil because they need to have a lot more pain and damage inflicted on them before they can pass on, and the damage reduction is directly relative to how evil they were in their past lives (including their Soul Society lives). Quincies send Hollow souls immediately to the good/true/final afterlife because the arrows cause immense amounts of pain, rivalled only by Old Man Genocide Yamamoto's Bankai (more formally known as "Hell").

The deal between Soifon and Hachi will include regrowing Soifon's arm.
The Urahara thing was just the clincher.
 * Lol, I'd like to see that exchange:
 * "How about a deal? I've got a healing technique that's so awesome it can heal any injury. Help me kill Barragan, and I'll give you back your arm!"
 * "No."
 * "NO? I've just offered to regrow your f*** ing severed arm and that's STILL not good enough for you?!"

Tesla is Not Quite Dead.
We all saw Kenpachi practically slice the guy in half and it was pretty clear that he was a goner, yet Chapter 313 shows him shedding a tear for Nnoitra... If he is alive, I have a feeling he'll do a Heel Face Turn. Aside from Nel and the Great Desert Bros, the guy's arguably the least evil of the Arrancars we've seen. He was just following orders.
 * "Just following orders"? So were the Nazis. It didn't work in the Nuremberg trials, it won't work with the law-happy Soul Reaper Captain-General, and, hopefully, it won't work with Kubo.
 * Way to Godwin the Bleach WMG section dude.
 * Hey, I'm not the one who used the classic textbook "Nuremberg innocent plea".
 * And it is true, he was a perfectly well-mannered guy who was just following orders - add a little something else to the mix and you can't really blame him for what he'd done or for switching sides now that Nnoitra is dead.
 * ... no, no, I think we actually can blame him. He's a "perfectly well-mannered guy who was just following orders", he possibly feels attraction to Nnoitra, and he might end up switching sides? Or to put it another way, he's the sort of guy who's perfectly willing to torture and mutilate just because he was told to, is the sort of person who falls in love with murderous psychopaths, and is utterly faithless and only looking out for his own skin.
 * I've got to say you lost me at "utterly faithless and only looking out for his own skin." As for bringing Ho Yay into the equation, that was a deliberate leap. This is just a WMG, after all. It's not as if we knew what his reasons were for following Nnoitra to begin with, and if he's "perfectly willing to torture and mutilate just because he was told to" depending on his alignment, well, it's not as though he'd be useless as an ally.
 * Does it matter? You can blame any villain turned hero for their past acts. The whole point of the heel-face turn is that they're a goodguy now so they're giving a pass. This isn't an objection to the set up, but to the Heel Face Turn.
 * Jossed. Nobody was there to heal him, he was sliced through the middle by Kenpachi Zaraki, and he was last seen bleeding to death.

Grand Fisher somehow transferred himself to his lure before being killed
Arrancars' Resurrecion allows them to use their abilities. It's entirely likely that Grand Fisher still has the ability to use the lure that he did as a hollow, and, as it is revealed in the manga, he can jump to the other part if one is injured. It's possible that he somehow jumped to the lure to escape certain death at Isshin's hands and is waiting for a chance to finish his fight with Ichigo.
 * This Troper agrees, but believes that Grand Fisher was one of Aizen's experiments (like Metastacia), and that now the Lure and the Fisher are permanently seperate now. This Troper's own WMG is that the Lure is currently ranked 0 Espada.

Hiyori will provoke Ikkaku into publicly displaying his bankai.
By calling him "baldy," of course.
 * AWESOME.

The other person Byakuya used Senkei on was...
Kaien. He went to chew out Byakuya about not allowing Rukia to take a Seated position in the 13th Squad. They starting fighting. Byakuya badly outclassed him, but Kaien refused to give up even though it was hopeless, so Byakuya spared him.
 * Byakuya says he only uses it on people he swears to kill with his own hands, so it's unlikely that Kaien would walk away with his life.

Ichigo's rapid power growth can be easily explained.
Early on in the series, Urahara restores Ichigo's spirit power by putting his soul in a life and death situation. This is why Ichigo's power keeps growing so rapidly. Most Shinigami train and practice in situations where no real threat to their life is present and their everyday duty is dealing with regular hollows. Those are no real threat to a trained Shinigami(special circumstances excluded, such as Rukia's fight in the first chapter). As such, their power grows very slowly. Ichigo has faced at least several true life-and-death situations and always faces opponents around his level or ones that outclass him massively. His soul responds to this stimulus by massively increasing his reiatsu all the time and this is why his power keeps growing at such a massive rate.
 * So Shinigami are Saiyans? It explains so much!
 * I'm afraid that I haven't watched DBZ. Care to explain that comment?
 * In DBZ the Saiyans gain tons of power by fighting in life and death situations, they get stronger by fighting, the harder the fight, the higher the power gain.
 * Maybe, but it still works. Ichigo trains with Urahara for ten days. His main improvement is harnessing his resolve and Shikai. He fights with Renji - a serious fight and jumps to vice-captain+ level immediately. He fights with Zaraki and jumps to captain level. When Zangetsu pushes him to the limit, he obtains Bankai. Next, his training with Hiyori. He trained for what, a month? Eleven seconds is the result. After that he goes to Hueco Mundo and couple of hours(and a few serious fights) later he is able to maintain his mask for the entirety of the fight. He dies a few times and gets Uber-Hollow form.

Ulquiorra is Not Quite Dead
In fact, as soon as we get back to Las Noches, we may be re-introduced to a returned Ulquiorra.

Copy of post in Fanfiction (one of my own):

Yes, he did live...but he went 'dust to dust' at the end of the next chapter. It is interesting though: Ulquiorra has had such a heavy impact on the story, but none of his backstory has ever been dwelled on. Call this an insane theory, but based on appearance (the bat wings) it could be possible that Ulquiorra will even surprise himself, and come back from even this 'demise', just like Dracula. Dracula had a nasty habit of returning from the dead, so Ulquiorra could do the same thing.

That is just my thinking, and I believe that if he were to return from the dead, he'll introduce the trope 'Anyone can Die' into Bleach, since up to this point, only Hollows and Arrancar have died in this war. Also, Kubo gave Ulquiorra one heck of a moveset, a second release form, and unbelievable power right before Ichigo's hollow side showed itself in full force, so he couldn't have just killed off Ulquiorra like that. I think there are special plans for Ulquiorra in the upcoming manga...that is, if my theory is right.

End Copy.

What I am trying to say here (and will be repeated below), is that Kubo couldn't have put such an importance and attention on Ulquiorra in the story line, and give him such a power up just for him to wind up as Hollow Ichigo's cannon fodder for him to die just like that (we've been shown Yammy a lot too, and look at what has happened - he's the Cero Espada.) Besides, if he is able to use Lanza del Relámpago (or Rods of God, as I call them) at least up to 3 times in a row as if he was using a ordinary cero, he must have had a much powerful weapon up his sleeve that Hollow Ichigo didn't give him the time to use.

Another Copy from Deviantart post:

To all those who are a fan of Bleach, I think that it is possible that Ulquiorra will be coming back to life. Far-fetched, considering the destruction given to him by Hollow Ichigo, but with his abilities, quite possible. Let us just assume that Ulquiorra has never in his entire life been injured while he was in Resurrecion Segunda Espada, so he bases the limits of his healing abilities on his First Stage, where we can safely assume he is weaker than those Espada #3 onward. Saying that, we could assume that in his Second Stage, his regeneration capabilites are strong enough to the point that he'll be able to regenerate from the ashes.
 * I personally think he was purified, because as I recall, purified Hollows just kind of...ceased to exist. So he may come back, in Soul Society, maybe as a human. Or, Orihime could just whisk him back to life, which could maybe happen. Maybe.
 * The wings were a matter of looking cool and menacing. Dracula is a massive stretch. It's also worth noting that Ulquiorra's back story is completely irrelevant. Unlike most characters, who need to have back story crammed in at the last minute, what is truly important about Ulquiorra is how far he has come, not where he started. I can't see his flashback as being anything more than another villainous monologue about how humans are trash, Aizen is awesome, etc. Kubo obviously doesn't mind killing off people he's put work into, as evidenced by the recent demise of a Vizard who just barely got to show off his powers before he got the axe. That Ulquiorra is reduced to using the Lanza like it's going out of style tells me that it was indeed Ulquiorra's trump card, and he had fallen back on it out of desperation. If he had something better, he certainly would have used it. It's a stretch to think Ulquiorra wouldn't be a proper judge of his own body. For someone who regularly regrows parts of himself, who better to make the call that his body is finally failing him? That he dissolves into ash, just when it seems his limbs are coming back in fine, suggests this is true. His body simply doesn't have enough juice left to go on. It tried. It failed. And now Ulquiorra is dead. God willing, he'll stay that way.

Orihime's power can't erase the Hogyoku
Partly because it is Aizen, since he as backup plans overlaying backup plans, but I highly doubt that Orihime can negate the Hogyoku from existence, as she believes after Aizen shows it to her. If Aizen knew that Orihime's powers can erase the Hogyoku, I don't think he would show it to her until he wanted her to heal it (although he reveals he only took her to lure Ichigo and Co and four captains to Las Noches and imprison them there). To get to my point: Orihime can most likely only erase negative events that occur to an object, and not erase it from existence, as all of Aizen's 'phenomenon rejection' talk led her to believe, and she'll only wind up fixing the hogyoku as he originally verbally stated to her.
 * I sort of agree with this. My own personal theory about it is that Aizen is planning on Orihime betraying him and trying to use her power to reject Hougyoku from existence. How would that work to his advantage? The way I look at how Orihime's power works it is that she rejects the event from the timeline - but it happens gradually. Sort of like like a "fast backward". So if Orihime tried to erase the Hougyoku, she'd slowly make it regress into the past - her intention being to regress it back to where it doesn't exist. But that's not what will happen. Aizen will stop her at the moment when Hougyoku is regress to awakenening. This will give him a fully awakened Hougyoku at his hands and it'll fit his status as The Chessmaster.
 * I was begining to think I was the only one who thought this! I mean, c'mon, Aizen spouted all that stuff about rejecting the will of god, and then with practically his next breath "Oh, and here's my nearly drained MacGuffin over here, it'd be very bad for me if this was erased, oh yes!" And as far as I can remeber, we only have his word for what her powers actually are. Gee, couldn't possibly be a trick. Not coming from The Chessmaster!

"Superchunky" is the personality-less equivalent of an Adjuchas/Vasto Lorde
It's mentioned that the one Wonderweiss was controlling is not the only one of its kind, so there must be more of them in Hueco Mundo somewhere. We also know that Menos-level hollows will continue to cannibalize one another, and it makes sense that not all Gillian-class Menos are at exactly the same power-level. So, Superchunky and his ilk are the end result of Gillian-class menos which had no personality survive their creation devouring one another.

Orihime lied to Ulquiorra as he died
Call me heartless, or what you will, but considering what she has been through: a) mentally tortured by Ulquiorra, b) being told by Aizen that she was merely used as a tool to lure Ichigo and Captains to Hueco Mundo, just so he can attack early, and c) Seeing Ichigo killed right before her very eyes by Ulquiorra, JUST HOW CAN SHE SAY SHE ISN'T AFRAID?!! Sorry, I need to emphasize my point. But I can think of a reason why she would say that: 1) Hollow Ichigo, after ripping Ulquiorra apart, reverts back to an alive Ichigo, and 2) Ulquiorra is dying anyway, which poses a question: Who would be afraid if their torturer was dying, and the person they love is actually alive? And what fear would one have of someone on death's doorstep?
 * I think Orihime truly wasn't afraid, but I'm more than sure she didn't really forgive him, it was more like what Winry told Scar in Fullmetal Alchemist after he asked whether she forgave him or not- a no, but she was sympathetic. Orihime is kind, she hates people dying or getting hurt, so it makes sense that she would feel like she needed to give Ulquiorra something to cherish in his last moments...I guess.
 * Ever heard of a white lie? Because compassion could be a good motivation for telling lies, worrying about the truth being too painful for others. Interpreting it like that, in Orihime's mind, she wouldn't want Ulquiorra to think she was scared of him, in fear of him dying without a heart.

If the defeat order being the decreasing numerical order is something, not only Grimmjow, but Harribel may do a Heel Face Turn.
Or maybe Kubo just has something with both numbers 3 and 6. But I noticed how he skipped Harribel's fight to show Barragan's instead. Grimmjow's possibly not dead either, and may even make an Enemy Mine with Ichigo and the others, to help defeat Yammy, eventually turning it in a full-blown Heel Face Turn. And if numbers are there to say anything, Nell was the Terceira, too.
 * This WMG makes sense because, Harribel appears to be the most noble of the espada. Also considering the fact that Kenpachi is a good guy Grimmjow could definitely do a Heel Face Turn.
 * Worst part? Now that Aizen betrayed her trust by cutting her (she's not shown dying and saying something like "I'll reunite with my friends", just being cut, thus, giving the suspense of still having a chance to be healed), it makes this theory even more likely. And I'm going to gloat. Yes, I am.
 * The defeat order is mostly according to decreasing numerical value, but it does occasionally jump around (9, 6, 7, 8, 5, 4, 2 1, 3), making it hard to pin down, especially since almost half of the time, the Espada that was defeated was lower-ranked than the last one.
 * Complicating things a bit is the Two Lines, No Waiting nature of these episodes. Whose to say that Mayuri beat #8 before Kenpachi beat #5?

Kyoka Suigetsu will have one major fault in it's hypnosis power.
It will be revealed that Aizen can only produce one illusion at a time. This is why he didn't just quietly go about his business murdering everyone in Karakura and replacing them with illusions and why he is having to go through the whole war to reap the spirtual energy. Seriously though, have we ever seen him produce two illusions at the same time? This could also be the reason the he sealed the Central 46 chamber and didn't just set up a puppet show inside.
 * You know, that actually makes a lot of sense. Once again, brilliance occurs in WMG.
 * Aizen does in fact say that he set up a puppet show in Central 46. See here. To quote "illusion of the 46 chambers holding a meeting, alive and well".
 * Darn, and I really thought I might've been onto something.
 * You probably are; This Troper's interpretation was always that the 'illusion' in question was that someone was sending orders from the place (where no one else was allowed) to make it seem like there were still 46 officials holding meetings.

Aizen's real plan to create the King's Key: Have Espada 1-3 and their fraccion get killed in a single place.
We know from a few chapters ago when Wonderweiss appeared on the scene that, at least according to Starrk, it meant that Aizen is in a hurry. Based on what we've been told, everything's happening in Karakura Town because it's the right corodanates to create the King's Key before the lines shift or something. The problem is, with Fake Karakura Town the number of souls required to create the Key is missing. Except the top three Espada are all arrancar created from high level menos, composed of thousands upon thousands of hollow, which were all once ordinary souls. What if the deaths of Starrk, Barragan, and Harribel and their fraccion in and/or above the location that is Fake Karakura Town is enough to create the King's Key?

This is Aizen after all. Granted neither he (or was he?) nor Yamamoto were expecting the Vizard s to show up. But his side has still been doing fairly well despite the shinigami having the advantage in numbers. I can just imagine Aizen, following the defeat of the Espada saying to the utterly exhausted Captains gathered: "Congratulations, you've defeated my Espada and in doing so given me exactly what I wanted. So long suckers!"

Bleach Volume 40 Poem's Meaning
40: The Lust (Ulquiorra cover)

"I envy because of the heart. I glutton because of the heart. I covet because of the heart. I am prideful because of the heart. I sloth because of the heart. I rage because of the heart. Because of the heart, I lust for everything about you."

ULQUIORRA SAYS THIS!! Is this seriously the direction Kubo's taking with our favourite stoic Espada should he live? Personally, I don't accept the fact of Ulquiorra becoming so soft because of Inoue of all people (she needed a toddler to talk her out of her fear of Ichigo for all that is SANE!!) Due to the chapters, I, personally, believe he merely is speaking of the flaws of the heart, and how they affect humanity, as the Seven deadly sins, and possibly Ichigo and Co to an extent, because to me, Ulquiorra would use knowledge of the heart to harm people emotionally, and psychologically. Please post which characters in your opinion are affected by each sin in the discussion thread.
 * It could be Ichigo's friends' feelings about life, to remind him that he had friends to protect.
 * Envy is about Keigo, as he envies Ichigo, somehow.
 * Gluttony is about Orihime, as she eats a lot.
 * Avarice is about Mizuiro; I don't know, he doesn't really fit anything else in this list, but at least he looks a bit richer than the others.
 * Pride is about Uryuu, obviously, due to the Quincy Pride.
 * Sloth is about Sado; he doesn't really fit any, but...
 * Ire is about Tatsuki, really obvious to this point, if you have seen her reactions.
 * Lust is about Chizuru, as she lusts for... Orihime. But she still counts.


 * Not impossible, but about 99.999% unlikely. To date, the poem has ALWAYS corresponded to the picture above it. Even on those occasions when the poem was about a subject different from the covers (such as the one that was about Ichigo's mask, despite Yoruichi on the cover, the picture above the poem was changed to reflect its subject. Ulquiorra was above the poem. The poem represents Ulquiorra. That's all there is to it. Get over it. "softened up" by character development plenty of fans saw coming, so it hardly seems criminal. Besides, I can't help but notice that the fans who pretend to be outraged by Ulquiorra's "softening" up tend to have the most peculiar trait of sharing a common shipping bias that would make them very desperately want Ulquiorra to be a Complete Monster, so...

The flaw in Aizen's Zanpakuto.
Aizen tells us that Complete Hypnosis controls the 5 senses of the target to cast perfect illusions. But those are not the only senses that Shinigami possess. We know that they can sense the reiatsu/reiryoku of another person. If this sense is separate from the five standard senses and precise enough to pinpoint someone's position then Aizen can be effectively fought against. It's still an incredibly overpowered ability but it's not completely unbeatable.
 * Considering Ichigo has shown himself to be able to track spirit energy very precisely that wouldn't surprise me.

Ichigo is half-dead
Because of his mom being a human and Isshin being a Soul Reaper, Ichigo and his sisters are half or at least part-way dead (Yuzu could be like 1/5 dead or some other equally small fraction). Becoming a Vizard made Ichigo somewhere around 55% dead and every time he gets more powerful Ichigo is dying. Right about now I'd say that he's 65-70% dead. Ichigo's powers 'leaking' makes anyone they've influenced about as dead as they are 'strong'. When he finally does die all the way, I doubt Ichigo will notice...

Ichigo's not pulling powers out of his ass
During the Hueco Mundo Arc, Ichigo has developed two new power levels but both times he was being "healed" by Orihime. She pretty clearly likes him and this is Shonen. Is it really that hard to believe that she's boosting his powers as the plot demands it?
 * Makes sense- she does have the power to do anything she wants- so her (whether it be consciously or unconciously) boosting his powers is not that too much of a stretch.
 * So he's pulling powers out of HER ass? Eeeeew.

Ichigo's Bankai will start working again.
As we all know, Ichigo's Bankai at the moment seems to be limited to giving him fancy clothes and a black Getsuga. The whole mind-boggling crazy speed has been entirely forgotten - there is not one enemy that was noticeably slower than Ichigo since Byakuya. In his fight with Byakuya, Ichigo's bones broke from the strain of using that speed consistently. This(as far as I remember) has not been commented upon since that fight, but it has never really been resolved either.

My theory is that Ichigo will learn to tap into his Hollow powers for high speed regeneration. This will allow for him to use that speed once again - his bones will simply mend as he fights.

Gin is the real villain.
Except he's the only one who knows it. Ever since he and Aizen met, he's been subtly guiding him up until the defection, and is now working behind the scenes at Las Noches. What is his plan? Hell if I know. All I know is that he's the one behind everything that's happened in the series. ...EVERYTHING.

Shunsui's zanpakuto's "calvinball" ability is the reason Ukitake prevented him from using his bankai.
It's probably even worse about it than his shikai. Considering Ukitake's quote, "Your Bankai isn't something that should be used with so many people around." it probably drags everyone into the game somehow.
 * The actual quote is that he shouldn't use his bankai "where others can see", which implies that it involves some sort of forbidden technique.
 * Maybe his bankai works similarly to Kyouka Suigetsu, in that everyone who sees the release is affected. So Ukitake meant that he literally shouldn't use it if there is someone other than the enemy around.
 * Depending on the translation it can also be "Your bankai is not something to be used out in the open like this", "Your bankai isn't something that should be used in a place like this where people will see it" or "That bankai of yours shouldn't be revealed with these many eyes lurking about". The implication seems to be that it's all those things - dangerous to people around, something that should remain secret(or is forbidden somehow) or it could work similarly to Kyouka Suigetsu. Really, it's hard to tell what exactly will that thing do, except that it will probably be Badass.

Muramasa is either...
...the creator of the Zanpaktou or the one who figured out how to seal them into swords. This is assuming he has a Meaningful Name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muramasa ''[According to a folk legend,] once drawn, a Muramasa blade has to draw blood before it can be returned to its scabbard, even to the point of forcing its wielder to wound himself or commit suicide. Thus, it is thought of as a demonic cursed blade that creates bloodlust in those who wield it.''
 * According to this legend, he could very well be KENPACHI'S SWORD SPIRIT! HOW FITTING! Also, it'd be awesome if everything was a plan by Muramasa to call Kenpachi's attention. He was obviously lying when he said he killed his owner; a sword spirit should die if it does so. It'll be hillarious when Ken-chan comes and says "You wish you killed me, bastard".

The Zanpakuto arc may be more important than your average filler...
The current anime arc is focusing on shinigami fighting against their zanpakutos' spirits. How long until Kenpachi meets his?
 * Read description above. If it's not Muramasa himself, it'll make me a sad panda.
 * But if Kenpachi's zanpakuto is revealed in a filler arc, either it can't be introduced in the manga or Kubo will have to shoehorn in another battle... then again, maybe that won't be any different from normal.

Ishida will become extremely powerful.
I asked one question in Just Bugs Me - why, after loosing his Quincy powers to final form, didn't Ishida just go to Orihime so that she could restore his powers? If she can bring back the freaking dead(at least sometimes) then restoring his Quincy powers should be a piece of cake.

Thus, when the next round of power upgrades comes along, Quincy Final Form will become a regular occurrence to Ishida. Every time he uses it, he'll just go back to Orihime so that she may restore his powers and use it again. Or maybe this Final Form-Restore-Final Form-Restore etc. cycle will mean that Ishida's powers will evolve to the point where he will have some sort of a permanent Final Form.
 * This troper has always felt that Ishida should be able to use Final Form permanently...if only he were dead. It's specifically mentioned that his human body is the limiting factor on it, so if he didn't have one of those...

Kyoraku's pink coat is a kind of defense against his sword's "color" game.
It's color makes the enemy unlikely to be able to damage it easily, but it's a double-edged sword in that it limits his own attack power, which is why he took it off to fight Starrk.
 * That's actually savvy enough to make sense.

Ichigo is overprotective of Orihime because he is a descendant of the Royal Guard, and she of the Royal Family
I've already spammed the idea of Orihime being related to the Royal Realm, due to her unique powers, and it is generally accepted that Isshin was part of the Royal Guard- so, what if the reason why Ichigo is so batshit about Orihime's protection is that he is meant to protect her? He's protective enough as is, but with Orihime, he takes it to some extremes. It may also explain why he didn't hurt her when he was in uber-Hollow form. (Of course, he may just be so protective of her because she's the only one who truly needs him to protect her.)

Aizen just created the King's Key.
Via Thus, Aizen set up a battle that he can't possibly lose. Even if his forces are crushed, he still wins.
 * Still, if this were the case, it's strange that he would kill Harribel himself rather than say, after the heroes killed her, "Congratulations, this was all part of my plan," like he did after Nnoitra's defeat.

Only an illusion-type sword can defeat an illusion-type sword.
I may sound like Uncle Chan here, but it'd make sense. Aizen's sword, being an illusion type, would be able to make him immune to illusions, as a minor, reflexive ability. What if there's another illusion-type sword that can nullify Aizen's? What if this sword hasn't awakened completely, due to being in an extremely inexpericendes Shinigami's hands? What if Ichigo Kurosaki has the same descriptions above? We have seen him awakening his sword's Bankai, but we haven't seen him properly using it. If he did, his Bankai at least looks pretty weak, then, and needs more maturing. Or maybe it's an illusion that makes people think that's always weak, but gets progressively stronger with each attack (also, I can't swallow that Ichigo never had a proper Shikai all that time, there must be something wrong).

One more thing! Ichigo have never, ever seen Aizen releasing his zanpakutou, or seen his illusions. And even if he seen, who would be sure that he wouldn't track it as an illusion? If there's another clue, it would be his refined spiritual track. Aizen couldn't fool it.

Maybe it's a crazy theory, but if it manages to make sense in someone's mind, go ahead to comment and give mmore basis.
 * While I doubt that Ichigo has an illusion-type, the fact you mentioned that Ichigo has never seen Aizen's release made this troper realize something: it's a bit of a stretch, but it might end up being that it'll be up to Team Karakura (i.e. Ichigo, Chad, Ishida and Orihime) to defeat Aizen in the end, since none of them have ever seen Aizen's release and would initially be immune to his illusions. While doubtful, it'd bring an earlier concept full circle (what with the four of them having initially teamed up to infiltrate Soul Society) and be delightfully ironic that, despite having somehow planned for every contingency, Aizen is ultimately undone by a bunch of highschoolers.
 * Wait, wouldn't he just reseal his sword and the re-release it, thereby making sure everyone sees his release and is under his power? It's not like he can only do it once or something.
 * In this latest chapter, Unohana pretty much says that Ichigo is the only one capable of defeating Aizen because he hasn't seen the shikai. That and he must not see it, at all, no matter what. And in response to the above idea, it depends on how quickly Aizen can do it and whether or not he's willing to risk dispelling an illusion for the sake of one (or four) high schoolers.
 * It seems Aizen has not planned for every contingency indeed- Shinji has revealed that his zanpakuto is also a "control the five senses" sword, though presumably of a different type than Aizen's given its unusual name (his sword is named after rubbing a cat the wrong way, whereas Aizen's is named after idioms for things that can never be seen.).
 * Maybe Shinji has a Brown Note zanpakuto?

Lilynette isn't dead.

 * A crazy theory I know, but I doubt miss Fanservice(One of them) was killed like that. I think that she might somehow come into play over the next few battles.
 * Perhaps she gives her life to save Stark, reinforcing his whole "loneliness" thing.
 * I don't recall seeing Starrks guns much in the final battle, and we just can't have the Primeria get killed by a Shikai! Perhaps she can serve as the pairs Soul Jar? Then they could pull a Heel Face Turn and have all kinds of Shinigami friends to keep those Lonely At the Top feelings away!
 * I second this motion.

If Grimmjow does a Heel Face Turn a new hotheaded rival is going to be introduced.
Ishida, Renji, Grimmjow, and emocar. The pattern is aloof hot headed, Hot headed and aloof again.
 * Ishida, Renji, BYAKUYA, Grimmjow, Emocar. Aloof, Hot-headed, Aloof, Hot-headed, Aloof. Next up still be "Hot-headed".
 * Why do people always forget Kenpachi?
 * And Ikkaku.

Ichigo's mother was Dead All Along.
But just a normal whole who came with Isshin when he was banished, not a seated shinigami (or a shinigami at all) or a hollow.

Keigo is Aizen.
He came to Karakura in disguise to watch Isshin and (depending on the timing) his kid(s), and is the real reason Ichigo's friends advanced so quickly in the Spirit Powers department (they had already been developing for some time, but hadn't yet awakened). The Aizen in the Soul Society was merely an illusion, or even the released version of his zanpakuto/its bankai. This is how Aizen managed to use an illusion on Ichigo after the fight with Byakuya at the execution grounds (Keigo would have had many, many opportunities to release the zanpakuto, especially if it didn't have to look like a sword at the time). (This is mostly based on an image of what is probably Keigo in the first chapter title page that resembles a de-aged Aizen in ZombiePowder style, but if Aizen is hiding anywhere in plain sight, and knew about Isshin and his family from the beginning, this would be it.)
 * Nah, Mizuiro is Aizen in disguise, Keigo just happens to be his descendant. His personality (or lack thereof) reminds too much of the kind masquerade Aizen had (except that we don't really know if Aizen likes older women; it'd be hillarious if he did, though).

There's another Espada group
I can't see the logic in Aizen killing them all off and fighting himself. He's said before that he's unable to fight all the Gotei 13 at once, so in true Aizen tradition he's got some JUST AS PLANNED moment coming up.

The true Espada.


 * I can only see Aizen having an army of Vasto Lordes instead.

Wonderweiss' power is to negate other powers with his voice
Notice the way things go to pieces when he's around. Hitsugaya's ice prison falls apart like a house of cards. Mashiro's cero is "erased" (her own words). Mashiro's mask, which should last a staggering fifteen hours, vanishes as soon as Wonderweiss starts shouting at her. Take all of this together with Tousen's line about how his words have meaning, and it's not a stretch to think that Wonderweiss is the ultimate nullifier.

Aizen's real weakness is...
His hypnosis doesn't work on zanpakuto spirits and they can direct their wielders in battle

Ichigo used to be a Vasto Lorde
Here's a thought - many people are speculating that in Turn Back the Pendulum we haven't been shown the captains of the 10th and 11th division because one of them might be Isshin. But what if it's actually Ichigo who used to be a captain back then? Here's my theory. Two incarnations ago Ichigo became a Hollow and went all the way to becoming a Vasto Lorde. Eventually he was purified and sent to Soul Society, becoming one of the Shinigami. He became a captain of the 10th or the 11th and eventually died - fifteen or so years ago, just in time for his reincarnation. When Ichigo became a Hollow-Shinigami hybrid in the Shattered Shaft training, he started to awaken two sources of his power. One - his Shinigami power, which just an incarnation before was captain level. And two - his Hollow power, which two incarnations before was Vasto Lorde level. This is the reason as to why Ichigo has so much power and an incredible level of growth - he's not actually "learning" how to use his power but rather he's remembering it, unearthing buried memories. Thus, it wasn't really Shirosaki(maybe he played a part, but it wasn't all him) who protected Orihime. This awakening of power that I mentioned eventually culimanted after Ulquiorra killed Ichigo. That event was him reverting to his former personality, so to speak, and pounding Ulquiorra into the ground with all the might that a Vasto Lorde/Captain Shinigami hybrid can bring on.
 * While this troper suspects that this theory is unlikely to be true, it'd be brilliant if it was since it a) explains a heck of a lot, b) would be awesome, and c) would lead to some rather interesting reactions if/when there was a reveal.
 * I find this to be a very interesting theory as well. But since I think about it, Hollow Ichigo's immense power may actually come from feeding on the excess energy Ichigo doesn't use, mimicking a normal hollow's growth, while the small amount that does escape is Ichigo's leaking reiatsu. This is taking into assumption that Ichigo's dad was once a member of Squad 0 some point in the past.

Aizen only sliced Harribel as an excuse to draw his Zanpaktou.
Captain Broken Could probably have taken on the rest of the Soul Society forces there with the remaining Espada's and Wonderweiss's help and with his two over-powered subordinate captains, but why risk damaging his elegant self? He's a Captain and presumably knows Bankai (though Kempachi proves you can cram horrendous buttloads of spirit power into someone who otherwise lacks Captain-level qualifications) and can release his Zanpaktou without calling it's name. Also, isn't it interesting that as awesome as Aizen is it's Gin who slices and dices Hiyori rather than Aizen doing it himself?

Conclusion: Aizen has set himself up in the eyes of the Soul Society as being pure malevolent Evil for Evil's Sake style super-villian with the events surrounding his departure from Soul Society, so a You Have Failed Me style assasination of the last Espada doesn't seem out of character for him. He slashes Harribel, has his Zanpaktou razzle-dazzle everyone, then leaves Gin (who's in on The Plan) to help keep-up the illusion while he slips out through a Garganta un-noticed on his way to the Real Karakura town to enact his Master Plan. 

Isshin will be the deciding factor in the battle for Karakura town.
Aizen has time and again been established as an impossibly good planner. He's been shown to be able to set up infallible xanatos gambits, and to have everyone play right into his hand. In this latest arc, it makes sense that he had taken all of the gotei 13 into account, all of the visored, Ichigo and crew, as well as Urahara and crew. I mean, he knows about everyone involved who could make a difference, and must have planned around them... except Isshin Kurosaki.

The series' length is at least partly due to Aizen being a total Game Breaker
Basically, Kubo got a bit carried away when he was coming up with the Big Bad and realised a bit too late in the game that he couldn't come up with a plausible way for said Big Bad to get his just desserts. So he keeps the storylines going for as long as possible to give him time to come up with something. A bit unfair to Kubo-san perhaps but it would explain a few things.
 * There is already a weakness to Kyoka Suigetsu- the victim has to see the sword being released- and Ichigo hasn't seen its release, he probably will be able to fight Aizen without succumbing to its effects.

Kirio Hikifune is Masaki Kurosaki.
Of course, she didn't die so easily to such a weak Hollow. She possibly used a kido to scare him away due to the short time she had to protect her son, and used shunpo, to not be seen as a Shinigami by Ichigo. The body Ichigo saw was just her Gigai. It would reinforce the theory that Isshin is from the Royal Guard, too, as they probably knew each other there. They modified their names and ran away to the living world, but only Isshin lost his powers due to being conditioned as a Royal Guard for more time than her. Hiyori didn't notice her possibly because she hid her spiritual pressure all the time, and because they lived in almost opposite sides of Karakura. She's probably hiding, ready to help defeating Aizen when time comes.
 * Masaki wouldn't need to keep her powers to still be a Royal guard. If both of them were Royal guards, and Masaki lost her powers (or couldn't separate from her gigai quickly enough because she spent so long in it) that would explain her death to one of the weaker Hollows such as Grand Fisher, although she could have scared him off, like you said, with some weak kido before dying. In this theory, Masaki would actually be dead, but Ichigo would still be 100% Shinigami. Doesn't really explain why Yuzu has no spiritual abilities, but. It's possible that that's simply because of timing or some other natural cause.

Or maybe...

Isshin is a reincarnated captain
We don't know for sure how much time it takes for a soul to reincarnate, and even more when it's a powerful soul, so, it could have taken more than half a century until the 10th division's previous captain, who died right before the happenings in Turn Back the Pendulum, could reincarnate. The deceased captain probably reincarnated as Isshin Kurosaki, somehow or another, became aware of his previous reincarnation, and asked Urahara for help. It could explain how he got rags that look like a piece of haori, but aren't exactly such; it's probably a vestige of his previous incarnation.

The series will have a Kill em all Ending
The last battle escalates further, Aizen unvails some insane new power, people end up dropping left and right. Ichigo and co. show up and turn the tide of battle, but in the end there are no survivors. The next part will be people in Karakura town in mourning (probably with futile search effort going on, and eventually called off). Showing how Tatsuki, Isshin, Ryuuken, et. all are handling the group's apparent deaths. Then you see what an uproar in Soul Society there is because they ending up losing most, if not all of the captains. Eventually, things jump many years in the future, and things become less bleak: Chad, Orihime, and Ishida have put together new lives in Soul Society. I could see Chad becoming a Soul Reaper and Orihime becoming a medic. Ishida... Soul Society's Batman, maybe? I can't really see him wanting to be a Soul Reaper. We might also see what happened to the purified Arrancar (which probably wouldn't be very pleasant for them, with the possible exception of Nel.) The old leutenants will have become captains.

Cut back to the living world, the reincarnated captains, vizored, Rukia and Renji our living out their lives rather well (again, with the villians probably getting a karmic fate). I'm not sure which side Ichigo would end up on, but he'd probably end fine either way.

In the filler, Byakuya's reason for betraying Soul Society is a desire to protect Rukia...taken to the extreme
Byakuya has stated that his reason for switching sides is for "his pride". Now, he could literally mean his pride as in "I lost to Ichigo and now I need to redeem myself", but that's a bit too petty for him, and recent actions in episodes 240 and 241 reveal more about his intentions than his words. After all, what else has he referred to as his "pride"? Oh, that's right, RUKIA.

But wait, didn't he kill Sode no Shirayuki? Ah, but when Senbonzakura commented that "a Shinigami is nothing without their zanpakuto", it didn't seem to bother him too much. Then, when delivering the remains of her zanpakuto to Rukia, he only said "Stay out of this fight." Combine this with a few facts from regular canon: Byakuya's never seemed thrilled about Rukia taking on assignments and he's gone out of his way to ensure that Rukia doesn't get promoted so she doesn't get involved in more dangerous missions.

It adds up to indicate that Byakuya has never really liked Rukia placing herself in danger as a Shinigami, but didn't want to explicitly force her out of service and was too late to prevent her becoming a Shinigami in the first place. So now he does the next best thing; he destroys her zanpakuto so she has no choice but to retire.

This troper is betting that the two times Rukia is about to be attacked in 241 (when Senbonzakura does it and then when the rest of the zanpakuto join in), he would've stepped up to prevent it had Renji and the Black Ops, respectively, not jumped in. When this is revealed, he'll likely say something along the lines of "You can have Soul Society if you want...but Rukia is OFF LIMITS."

In the current filler Sode no Shirayuki is Not Quite Dead yet.
All that needs to happen for the 3rd dance Shirafune to be performed somehow and she'll be as good as new or at least in a not so dead state..maybe.

Izuru Kira is the son of Gin Ichimaru and Rangiku Matsumoto
Kira was very devoted to Ichimaru and descended into even deeper depression when he left. Matsumoto and Kira have a close relationship and it's implied there's something between Matsumoto and Ichimaru. Possibly Kira does not know this fact but the others do. It's the only reason why Gin Ichimaru treats them differently.

Szayel is Not Quite Dead
He will have had a contigency plan to keep himself alive in case he was ever killed. He will show up later as a mercenary of sorts, willing to work for whoever gives him the material to do his research.
 * Wasn't Gabriel his contingency plan?
 * He has another one.

Rukia has a Hollow side
No matter what anyone might believe or claim, having the Hogokyu sealed in her all that while wasn't totally without effect. It's a smart 'un, though, waiting for a truly critical moment, when Rukia really doesn't have anything left to save herself with, to manifest.
 * Ichigo's hollow really didn't manifest itself and take over Ichigo until he learned Bankai, so this could work if Rukia acheives Bankai (she has to in order to keep up).

Ichigo has been absorbing all the Arrancrar he's defeated since getting his inner hollow
...which is why his inner hollow seems to have leveled up so much. We know hollows get stronger by eating or absorbing other hollows, so if Hichigo has gotten stronger...
 * Its seems to be that Hollows increase in power by absorbing souls because they can't increase their power through training or just working at it, like Shinigami or spiritually empowered humans such as the Quinces or Chad & Orihime can. If thats right it means that Inner-Hollows gain power both ways, through the absorbations of external sources of power and through training because of their Shinigami parent-soul. Thus as Ichigo got stronger, so did his Inner-Hollow.

Espada ranking
Having come across a recent forum discussing Vasto Lordes, and possible fluctuating powers in existing Vasto Lordes, I've decided to put together this board on the level each Espada was at before becoming arrancar. Here's a link: http://bleachasylum.com/showthread.php?p=1796378:


 * 10: Yammy: Mid-level Adjuchas Arrancar (changes with release)
 * 9: Aaroniero: Extremely High-level Gillian
 * 8: Szayel: Mid-level Adjuchas
 * 7: Zommari: Mid-level Adjuchas
 * 6: Grimmjow: High-Level Adjuchas
 * 5: Nnoitra: High-level Adjuchas

Now onto the ones heavily speculated as Vasto Lordes:

)
 * 4: Ulquiorra: Mid-Level Vasto Lordes (sacrificed power for regeneration, )
 * 3: Tia Harribel: Low-Level Vasto Lordes
 * 2: Barragan: Low-level Vasto Lordes (ability makes this debatable)
 * 1: Starrk: Low-Mid-Level Vasto Lordes

Now, to discuss :

Wonderweiss Margera:

Now, onto a unique subject, and that is... Hollow Ichigo as of chapter 350.

Hollow Ichigo: Equivalent to High-level Vasto Lordes:

If this theory is true, we've yet to truly see the upper class Vasto Lordes in action, besides Wonderweiss and Ulquiorra.

It's true that Halibel was a weak VL, she said it herself because she refused to consume hollows.

One of the ways I can see Aizen becoming more evil is...
Kidnapping Karin Kurosaki. Tite mentioned in an interview we would see a "more evil" Aizen. So I'd imagine that the only way Kubo could top Aizen nearly killing Momo, and basically everything he's done up to this point, is by kidnapping Karin. If we receive a time-skip of say about 2-5 years, this could result through use of a memory chikan (a powerful one), of him brain-washing Karin into thinking Aizen is her father, and training her to fight for him. It'd be the ultimate emotional blow to Ichigo, beyond anything else imaginable (besides Karakura Town's destruction), and in Aizen's eyes, give him a weapon equivalent to Ichigo, as she could logically go through the same power growth as Ichigo, with Aizen's guiding hand.
 * That idea has been used a fair few times in fanfic so if it does happen in canon there's going to be a lot of people saying they called it.

Reiatsu shape
The only three characters we've seen whose reiatsu has taken on a certain shape is Ichigo, Kenpachi, and Yachiru, all in the same battle. What does this mean for these three? Please post your theories here:
 * It could attest to the immense power these three possess, similar to Toshiro and Yamamoto's zanpakutos.
 * It could be referencing that they're just that Hot-Blooded, and not any particular indication of spiritual power.
 * It could be something to do with one's "spirit type" (like the shape of a zanpakuto spirit or Hollow form).
 * Such as their demon-spirit part. Kenpachi's been called a demon before, it's been guessed in WMG that Ichigo is part demon, and it might explain why Yachiru is... well, I'll just say "pretty much uncontested".

Hollow Forms and Zanpakuto Spirits are the same.

 * This WMG obviously takes its main inspiration from Hollow Ichigo's words and actions. However, it is also interesting to note that when someone uses Bankai, they tend to take on aspects of their Zanpakuto spirit's appearance. This is similar to an Arrancar's release, which simply allows them to restore their Hollow forms over their humanoid forms. This may also have something to do with the new filler arc, in which the Zanpakuto spirits are in humanoid forms (though they seem to be able to take their previous/Bankai forms).


 * This WMG also suggests that the Spirits shown in the Muramasa arc are similar to Arrancar in this regard, and that a soul is more likely to become a strong Shinigami if it was/is a purified Hollow. Which, in turn, could be why some Shinigami such as Toshiro and Ichigo are so powerful at a relatively young age.


 * A couple things which could back up this possibility: When Shinigami release their swords, their swords which transform. When Arrancar release their swords, they transform. Also, each Arrancar appears to have some unique trait or skill (Starrk's, Aaroniero's ability to absorb the powers of other hollows), while their swords seem to have no real distinguishing traits except for being different sizes and shapes. With Shinigami it's basically the opposite way round, with each sword having a unique power and the wielder being 'ordinary' (for a given value of ordinary, at least).

Kenpachi will be the key to victory
Because Kenpachi is the only one whose entire power comes from himself. As stated time and again every other Shinigami of note's power is theirs and their Zanpakutou's put together, while Kenpachi relies only on himself, meanig he's still at full power. Everyone likely worked this out, but I felt it needed to be said.
 * Kenpachi will be the key to victory because he's Kenpachi.

Isshin Kurosaki is the captain who saved Ishida's family
Let's look at the facts about Isshin and the Quincy:
 * Isshin is implied to be a former captain-level Shinigami, now living in the human world.
 * The Quincy were almost entirely wiped out by the Shinigami, with the exception of Ishida Ryuuken and Ishida Uryuu.
 * Both Ishidas, as much as they hate each other, have expressed even greater disdain for the Shinigami. Ryuuken even puts a condition on restoring Uryuu's powers, that he never interact with the Shinigami or their friends ever again.
 * And yet, we see Ryuuken and Isshin talking with each other like old acquaintances. Not necessarily friends, but Ryuuken isn't outwardly angry at Isshin's presence either.

The questions that these facts raise are:
 * How did the Ishida family survive the massacre?
 * Why did Isshin get kicked out of Soul Society?
 * Why does Ryuuken accept Isshin's presence?

The one explanation that answers all of these questions at once is: Isshin helped the Ishidas escape, and was exiled when he was found out. This would be a pretty interesting backstory, and I hope it will get explored once they finally wrap up this whole Aizen business.
 * Minor nitpick: We're not sure when the massacre happened, but it was certainly before Uryuu was born. It's sort of implied that it was when Soken (Uryuu's grandfather) was in his prime, which means Ryuuken may or may not have been alive. If he was, it may partially explain his sour feelings towards being a quincy.
 * It was probably way earlier. Rukia, who is around eighty years old, hasn't even heard of Quincies before Ishida.
 * Rukia's more like 150, so yeah, definitely before any of the Quincies we know of were even born.
 * It's not a question of how old Rukia is, but rather how long she has been a Shinigami. After all, we wouldn't expect her to have heard about the Quincies while living in the slums. If the massacre happened 40 years ago, there's no reason to assume that Rukia would have heard about it.

Zanpakuto aren't as knowledgeable as Zangetsu makes them appear.
Most of what Zangetsu knows about himself and his nature as a zanpakuto comes from Sode no Shirayuki, who taught him during the time Ichigo had claimed Rukia's power (perhaps face to face, perhaps through subconscious - for Ichigo at least - retention of memory when Ichigo became a shinigami again); she herself knew it from Rukia's textbooks during her time at the Academy. The more personal things come from his own ponderings during the (probably otherwise very boring) times Ichigo isn't calling on him, and from discussion with Hichigo.

Kirio Hikifune is Masaki Kurosaki is Neliel Tu Oderschvank
Kirio and Isshin (or whatever his name was at the time) were among the original lineup of Captains, and eventually fell in love. This was complicated when Isshin was promoted to the Royal Guard, but Kirio worked her butt off to be granted the same honor, joining the Guard as quickly as she could. This worked out great for most of a century (minus a bit of a freak out when Kirio found out her de facto daughter had turned into a Hollow-thing and disappeared), but some terrible disaster that may well be the topic of a future flashback arc occurred, and the couple was forced to flee to the human world. There, they chanced upon Kisuke Urahara, who offered to help them hide using experimental spirit-draining gigai which would effectively turn them human, with the caveat that he didn’t know for certain how long they would last, as they had not yet been perfected for lack of testing. A year later, their spiritual signatures had nearly completely disappeared, and they settled down in Karakura Town under the fake names Isshin and Masaki Kurosaki.

A couple years later, they discovered during the course of normal loving-couple activities that the gigai had made them sufficiently human as to be able to conceive, and Ichigo was born. They decided to build a family, but waited a few years to be certain that Ichigo was a normal and healthy human, having Karin and Yuzu once they were sure. For a time, it was good. Then Ichigo encountered the Grand Fisher, and Masaki, powers locked away by the gigai, was forced to give her own life to protect him, and became a Hollow. Knowing thanks to the return of her power once free of the gigai that if she returned to Earth she would destroy her family, she instead turned her hunger on her fellow Hollows, and over a decade eventually became (at least a part of) the powerful Adjuchas Neliel Tu Oderschvank. Meanwhile, her children grew up without her, her son became a shinigami and then a Vizard, and her husband's gigai began to fail.

When Neliel met Aizen, she gladly accepted the transformation into an Arrancar in order to escape her hunger and stop needing to kill; in the process, the part of herself that had been Kirio and then Masaki came to the fore. She recognized the unassuming Lieutenant she had once known and discovered his plan to wipe out her family and all their friends and neighbors, but feigned loyalty despite her outrage, and was made the first Tres Espada, representing Sacrifice. When Nnoitra and Szayel betrayed her, she lost her conscious memories along with her apparent years. Upon meeting Ichigo, however, Nel subconsciously recognized him to some extent, and immediately latched on to him. By the time Ichigo lost to Nnoitra, her desire to protect him had grown so strong that she was able to break the seal on her power and memories and pound Nnoitra into the dirt, at least until her power faded. Whether she will retain her memories now that she is a child again, and if so what she will tell Ichigo and the rest of her family, remains to be seen.
 * Her first words upon reverting from Neliel to Nel was "Why is Nel small again?" Indicating that she has a least a vague memory of being Neliel.

The reason Aizen fled Hueco Mundo is because he realised they sent Unohana in.
He was trying to trap her and get away. Now that she's coming with Ichigo, the fight will be over very soon.

Joking aside, Unohana has probably figured out some way to see past Kyoka Suigetsu's ability and will be the first person to get in a hit on Aizen.
 * It's Confirmed she has. She knows how to completely bypass it. I think this counts as a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Unohana
 * And now she's heading for where Aizen is. Maybe her Big Fight will be against Aizen himself?
 * You realize that by putting Unohana's name in the same sentence with "hit on Aizen" you just gave every shipper from here to the moon something to misinterpret, right?
 * Oh, God! What Have I Done?
 * Too late. I bet it's one-sided... From his part. How else would he avoid hurting her?

Wonderweiss isn't evil, he's just trying to fit in.
Childlike and innocent as WW is, he thinks Grimmjow is a pretty cool guy. Eh impales people with his arm and doesn't afraid of anything. Wondie, not realizing Grimmjow is a horrible role model, looks up to him and strives to be just like him. Part of this is responsible for the catlike mannerisms he sometimes displays, but unfortunately it's also taught him it's cool to stick your arm through people's chests as a way to say "hello" and that brutalizing women is A-OK if they started it. The REAL reason Tousen hates Grimmjow is for being a bad influence on Wonderweiss.
 * Only problem with that last part is that Tousen hated Grimmjow before Wonderweiss even existed. But the rest.. never thought of that before...

Aizen's Bankai is to control the five senses of anyone who sees him activate its attack.
His shikai is just a cheap visual trick, which hasn't been used since long before the start of the story..

Aizen's Bankai is his shikai plus controlling the perception of spirit energy.
Just throwing that out there.

Aizen has no Bankai.
His shikai allows him to manipulate the sight and possibly other senses of anyone who sees it release. Up until he defected, everyone thought his zanpaktou was water based. He could have easily used his Shikai during his captaincy exam and conjured up an image of a water based Bankai. We know no one on the heroes' side has ever seen his real Bankai (assuming he has one).

The King's Key is not a key at all.
Its a sword, or more specifically, a Zanpaktou. And it already exists-in the form of Ichigo's Zanpaktou.
 * Senkaimon can be opened with Zanpakutou like a key opens a door, so it would only make sense if the Zanpakutou!King's Key opened a portal to the Royal Realm in the same manner.
 * It's actually Orihime's hairpins. If you haven't watched Scooby-Doo (or any show that features lock picking), you won't understand the joke.

Aizen's Zanpakuto is a Constant Release Shikai.
Every time he pulls it out, people fall under hypnosis. Please note he doesn't appear to have a command for it, such as when he met Barragan. In other words, everyone's doomed.
 * That...makes...SENSE! Aizen's got so much spiritual pressure, like Kenpachi and Ichigo, he could never shut off his Shikai. His command only shatters the illusion currently shown, and he merely has to draw his sword for it to re-activate it. In other words, Ichigo's already been exposed. It can go like this:

"Ichigo's blade passes through Aizen.

Ichigo: Wha-?!

Aizen appears behind Ichigo, stabbing him.

Aizen: The command I give only shatters the illusion my blade creates. Not once, have I never had to speak a command to activate the illusions.

Ichigo: What...you mean...?

Aizen: Yes, Kyoka Suigetsu is a Full-Time release Zanpakuto.

Everyone at FKT looks on in shock as Aizen tears his sword out of Ichigo, and follows him as he hits the ground

Aizen: You've been under my spell ever since I tried to cut you in half at the Sokyoku.

Ichigo has a flashback of his failed attack against Aizen.

Ichigo's thoughts: But that means...I never had any advantage to begin with!

Aizen: You still haven't learn that lesson, have you? No matter how much determination you have, no matter how much you want to win, no matter how much you believe you have to win, the difference in our powers...is just too great."


 * The fact that he never gives a command doesn't prove much, however. It's shown in the Byakuya vs. Renji fight that a side-effect of achieving Bankai is that you become able to release your Shikai without a command.
 * Aizen's shikai does have a release command. The command is "Shatter".
 * What the guy above you meant was that Aizen no longer needs to say "Shatter" to activate his Shikai.

The real reason (or one of the real reasons) Aizen kidnapped Orihime is because she is the key to overcoming his shikai.
Orihime's power is to reject events having happened. So if she were to use this on all the captains, she could in theory reject them ever having seen Aizen’s shikai and then they all jump in before he could use it again.
 * Remember who said that Orihime could reject anything: Aizen himself. Aizen, the same man who played Soul Society like his own puppet show for over 100 years, and is basically Bleach's Xanatos, able to predict any outcome, even up to the point where he has to use his insane power to crush the opposition. Who is to say that he didn't just lie to Orihime about her power? He told her it defied the powers of God, able to reject anything out of existence. Her power itself only stated "Return an object to it's original state before it was damaged". The sprites themselves said it only repairs damage does to an object, such as the Hogyoku weakening due to use. So Aizen's only tricking Orihime into believing she can destroy the Hogyoku, only for her to repair it.

Harribel will be saved by Unohana
This theory has 2 methods of being fulfilled:
 * First, when Ichigo and Unohana arrive at Fake Karakura Town, they will witness the amount of injured ones in the Soul Society side. To fix things quicker, Unohana will either go shikai or bankai which will amount to a massive area heal. Harribel will be caught in the massive heal and recover.
 * Second, when Ichigo and Unohana arrive at Fake Karakura Town, the first thing that they notice is that Harribel plummeting to the ground after being sliced by Aizen. After either hearing Harribel's soon-to-be-last words, or someone explains how she got cheap-shotted, Unohana shows pity on her and decided to heal her (Hey, she did heal a Privaron Espada, so her tolerance should be pretty big).

Likewise, there are several outcomes of this event. Either Harribel will be grateful for the save and later pulled a Heel Face Turn, or she will pull The Farmer and the Viper, because Evil Cannot Comprehend Good.
 * Harribel seems to be loyal to her principles, but she would still want to avenge her three fallen companions, and would try to become stronger, so she could defeat Yamamoto. I can totally picture it.

Orihime won't use her healing shield to destroy the Hou-whatsit
Instead, she'll use Tsubaki, which will pretty much screw all of Aizen's plans over.
 * We can only hope.
 * Hope or naivety? Tsubaki is a cutting tool. I wouldn't be surprised if the moment the Hogyoku was pierced by Tsubaki it goes KABOOM!! and levels everything within at most a 100-km radius of Las Noches, Hollow and Shinigami alike, like a nuclear bomb. If it was as simple as that, Urahara would have destroyed it years ago; it's not that he couldn't destroy it, it is just that he had yet to find a safe way of doing it. The hogyoku is made of some pretty volatile stuff, for it to break the borders between Shinigami and hollows. Plus, you are forgetting the kind of man Aizen is; he wouldn't have ever shown Orihime the Hogyoku unless he was positive it would fit into his plan ie. she winds up healing it instead of destroying it, since Aizen lied to her about her power being "god-like", and she can't revert anything out of existence, only restore to its original state.
 * I thought Tsubaki 'rejected something by cutting it in half', and I'm pretty sure no one else has something that could literally reject something from existence like that, not even Urahara. So, it's probably the best bet to destroy the Hou-whatsit, unless her powers are exactly what Aizen stated.
 * That's the word: "Cut". The same way Hacchi's technique could cut off those Gillian's heads, and a force field when activated with someone on the barrier edge getting sliced in half. It is basically a flying blade, so it = zanpakuto = KABOOM when used on Hogyoku, if it could pierce it. There would have to be a defined limit to what she can heal or block, since her healing ability was slowed by Ulquiorra's reiatsu when healing Ichigo's first hole in his first fight with #4, we should assume that her powers are only effective to a certain extent, when there isn't a superior reiatsu covering the target, wound, or present in the attack. If that is true, her power would be rendered just about redundant by most enemies (since never once has Orihime's shield been shown to block a Cero, only physical attacks, and even then is it never expected). To be frank, if anyone knew how Orihime's power operated, a foe who knew Shunpo or Sonido would kill her in one strike, since she wouldn't be able to see them move (I don't know how she followed Ulquiorra, since he's a different level than her by galaxies, though I like to assume that there were a few seconds where Ulquiorra was visible behind Ichigo before striking, and she threw up the shield then), since her reiatsu levels are most likely even below Hanataro, a seated officer, and nothing compared to the big hitters currently on the fields of battles. She conceivably has the lowest reiatsu levels of all the named characters in the series (inculding those who have yet to unlock their potential ie. Keigo, Tatsuki and Mizuiro).
 * So, my Bleach Databook book says that Orihime's power is to 'the power to reject the fusion of matter and split it', which, as I am led to believe, as it splits it, it simultaneously destroys its matter and therefore, it. So, there would be no kaboom, it would just...cease to be. Tsubaki is for one-hit kills, and if Orihime really wants something gone, it's going to be gone. To say she doesn't have much reiatsu (less than Tatsuki and the gang? I think not) has generally been proven to be false, she has enough strength and presumably, reiatsu, to contain Ichigo -who was actively trying to get out and is a captain class shinigami- in her healing shield, she withstood ceros from both a released Ulquiorra and a form of Ichigo's that was beating the shit out of Ulqui and she was close enough to Ichigo (and by extension, the fight and cero orgins) that she could hear him speak, so, if her powers can withstand so much, who's to say she can't destroy something like that? I'm quite sure the Hougyoku doesn't make its own reiatsu, so...yeah. All the girl needs is enough motivation, and the Hougyoku is gone.
 * Well, Orihime can always use the Shield-Shield to contain the Hougyoku, and cut it in pieces with inside the shield with Tsubaki. Even if it goes KABOOM, there'll be a barrier to avoid any injuries to the others. In theory, Orihime is smart enough to do so. The worst thing that could happen is her shield to leak a bit of the effects and tranform her (and whoever is near her at the time, possibly Ishida and Chad) in Vizards or something.
 * In essence, Tsubaki separates the atoms she attacks, but even if that's so, it wouldn't negate the Hogyoku exploding, since there'd still be two halves of unknown substance waiting to explode, since who knows what that stuff is at the center. Ichigo wasn't even trying to break out of her healing shield; it just sparked, and knocked his outstretched hand back. If he wanted to, he could have probably smashed his way out easily, the same way Kenpachi broke it with his foot. As to Tatsuki and the others, they'd probably have more reiatsu after they unlock their potential, due to being around Ichigo more, especially Tatsuki, since she knew Ichigo since he was was child, but not before. You could have a point, but her shield was never hit directly by said attacks; all they were ever hit with was by the wind kicked up by those attack, which otherwise would have blew her and Ishida off the dome, so containing a explosion wiping out Las Noches is out of the question.
 * As I recall, Ichigo was trying to get out of her shield, first he outstretched his hand, then he hit the shield, intending to break it and protect Orihime/Nel/Yachiru/everyone. But he couldn't, indicating that Orihime really wanted him healed and protected, and if she wants something, she will make it happen. Also, judging by the sheer volume of the ceros thrown by Ichigo and Ulqui, they probably encountered her shield a few times (plus that massive explosion that Ulqui intiated by cutting Ichibull's horn off) and she came out the only one completely unscratched.
 * I don't think he intended to break it; he didn't want her getting in Nnoitra's way, who would have killed her with a flick of his wrists (one of them), which is what was going through Ichigo's mind at the moment. Besides, if Kenpachi didn' t intervene at that moment to attack Nnoitra, Yachiru may have shown how strong she is, since she didn't seem fazed at Nnoitra.
 * I figured she configured the thing to reject hollows, and Ichigo was pushed away because he's becoming more and more hollow-like.
 * If your theory is correct, then that would mean, that eventually, the Soten Kisshun will refuse to heal Ichigo, because of how much like a Hollow he has become. Could you imagine Orihime's reaction if that were so?
 * The Hollow thing could make sense, but perhaps not- she was able to heal Grimmjow quickly and effectively, giving him his arm and status back. However, it could be that Ichigo just has a much stronger reiatsu than Grimmjow, which in turn makes him harder to heal as his own Hollow reiatsu is presumably stronger than Grimmjow's. I still think it was just her subconscious will to protect him that kept him in that barrier. Her powers are connected to her emotional well-being and will, so if her will is dead set on Ichigo staying in the barrier, I don't think he'd be able to get out.
 * By that logic, Ichigo is more of a hollow than an actual hollow!
 * Dude, in Bleach, anything is possible! But, yeah, anyways, I'm sorry, I didn't explain myself. I meant that Ichigo has stronger reiatsu (presumably than Grimmjow, seeing how he beat him and curb stomp battled Ulquiorra) and so his reiatsu from his Hollow side would be proportionally bigger than Grimmy's altogether, making him harder to heal. I'll fix my mistake.

Unohana is a Memetic Badass
Somewhere in depths of history, someone (possibly a member of the Eleventh) ticked her off enough for her to lose her temper, an extraordinary event in itself. Lord only knows what actually happened, but since then it has become enshrined in Soul Society legend and been altered and exagerated over the years. Since countless centuries have passed since then, there has been quite a bit of warping. This is not to say that she isn't actually badass, she is a captain after all, it's just that whatever makes the Eleventh Division petrified of her isn't 100% true.
 * I think now you're talking in relation to the fandom as a whole.

Mayuri's "spoils of war" in the cage are Grimmjow, Nel and Gantenbainne.
Mayuri would LOVE to find out how Arrancar ticked, and these 3 Arrancar(and Harribel) have the biggest chances of pulling a Heel Face Turn. I bet this is how they'll come back into the story and presumably lead up to Grimmkitty and Kenpachi showing Tousen what a crock of shit "Justice" is.
 * Given what Mayuri's research entails, this would not be a positive development for them.
 * Unless he uses less invasive methods, like he did with Ishida, He wouldn't risk losing such precious subjects so carelessly. Also, have you seen Chad somewhere?
 * Five bucks says it's Dordonii and Cirucci.

Unohana's Bankai inflicts emotional pain
They never said how it was more painful than Yamamoto's.
 * That's an interesting theory, but what if someone has never been through an emotionally traumatizing event in their lives? I think a combination of poison and acid would be more painful than flames.
 * It'd be interesting, but the Bankai that's more likely to inflict emotional pain (probably through Lotus Eater Machine) is Aizen's.
 * Surely if someone has never been through an emotionally traumatising experience, they'd be even more vulnerable to emotional pain, given that they haven't built up any mental defences necessary to resist it?

Hanataro's Zanpakuto Hisagomaru is actaully very powerful and blood-thirsty, similar to Unohana's zanpakuto
Both of them have healing type Zanpakutos, and for Unohana to make Kyoraku and Ukitake scared, her Bankai must be horrifying.

Hanataro's zanpakuto requires healing other's wounds to power up, and when it goes off, it can nearly kill a Gillian (filler). Akeiro Hisagomaru, could work differently. Like a Gran Rey Cero, his Shikai would probably require Hanataro drawing his own blood, and when it is absorbed, and fired, let's just say that an Adjuchas could be vaporized in one blow (or Arrancar). The reason why Hanataro doesn't know this yet, is because he isn't a violent person, and his zanpakuto won't talk to him for that reason, until at least he is in serious danger. Unohana doesn't bring him to Hueco Mundo for nothing, unless it is out of respect to her last lieutenant, or there is relation between them.

Seinosuke Yamada is Hanataro's father
And Unohana is the mother. Which makes Seinosuke one hell of a cake eater.

Aizen takes his cues from Displacer Beasts
The reason why nothing ever seems to effect him is he's using his Zanpakuto constantly to project a low level illusion. He's really standing five feet to the left. Which is why the chair is so big.

Kenpachi had his own way to interact with his sword's spirit
Kenpachi was a strong character who relied solely on his own power to fight - even working against his sword's spirit to do so. After his defeat by Ichigo, he asks this being for its name (and thus its cooperation). It is pretty much certain that he failed - and yet now he's more powerful now. True, he could have succeeded later...

But I have a better idea, one that fits Kenpachi. The spirit fails to follow him...

So Kenpachi kicks its ass and banishes it from his sword. Now he can be stronger - while still maintaining his main character.
 * The sword spirit in question was Muramasa and the current filler arc is the result of him being very, very pissed off about being given the heave ho.
 * And Muramasa's claim to have killed his owner is a lie, because the truth is too embarrassing to admit to.

Yammy's Gonzui in his Resurrecion...
Can completely drain opponents of their reiatsu, and add it to his own, as well as taking it from the environment. It seems to be probable, since he has yet to use that technique against Byakuya and Kenpachi, and it would completely justify his rank, and make him a viable threat.
 * Nope, that was a fake spoiler. One that caused much raeg among the fandom, before somebody pointed out the obvious.

The Espada are numbered based on raw power.
Which would explain how Yammy could be the highest ranked one and be getting his ass kicked by eyepatched Kenpachi; for all his power, he just sucks at fighting.
 * Wasn't this official?

The series will end in a massive Dark Tower-esque reset.
All the heroes and villains will die, one by one, except for Orihime. She spends days in bed, depressed. In a flash of inspiration she activates the Twin Sacred Return Shield. With Ayame and Shun'o facing outward.

Sousuke Aizen's weakness is...
For the enemy to fully understand him and his reasons. He hinted it not only once, but twice. And by hinted, this troper means that he just blatantly blurted it out, because he didn't expected his enemies to understand such thing. The problem is to achieve such feat... Unless his reasons are to protect someone or something, Ichigo won't be capable to defeat him that easily.

"Devil, Devil, Devil, Devil" is Unohana, Mayuri, Kenpachi, and Byakuya.
That is the title for chapter 380. Mayuri and Kenpachi are obvious and need no explanation. Byakuya is still probably the most arrogant of the captains (to the point of probably turning down a chance of tapping Yoruichi's ass simply because his pride as a noble wouldn't allow it), and Unohana...well let us look at two of the most recent chapters. In one, she is all "Ichigo, you are The Messiah, you will save us all!" The next chapter, she is thinking to herself "Hmm, he's more powerful than I thought, he'll be our trump card!" It is a glaring contradiction. She lied to him. They are using him, and using him hard. My guess is that they will have him make a kamikaze attack on Aizen in the hopes of breaking his power enough for the rest of the captains to attack en masse. Point is, Soul Society is still Morally Grey or perhaps even Morally Bankrupt. And Unohana especially, is crossing the Moral Event Horizon by doing this.
 * It seems more likely that Unohana was thought Ichigo was their best chance but still an outside chance. When she said he'll be the trump card is because her hopes are confirmed, meaning she really thinks its likely rather than the best of a bad hand.

Isshin was captain of Squad 6.
Well there was that comment in the Soul Society arc that Ichigo bore a resemblance to Byakuya's predecessor...
 * Source?
 * Back in the Soul Society arc, the anime episode with Ukitake stopping Byakuya from attacking Ichigo if I remember correctly.

Ichigo is equal to Aizen in raw power.
Unohana says his spirit power is "comparable to a Captain's" and Ichigo claims that he's only at half strength, showing his ripped longcoat as proof. He states that it's a part of his bankai, and it being half gone means that so is his power. At one point in the series, Aizen claims that the Hogyoku can be temporarily awakened by fusing it's spirit power with someone who has "twice the power of a shinigami captain" and then proceeds to use it, showing that he was refering to himself. Methinks Ichigo will fight Aizen, and get his ass kicked based on the vast difference in skill.
 * If that's the case, then it would mean Ichigo is actually already more powerful than Aizen, since "half power" surely doesn't take into account his ludicrously powerful 2nd Hollow form. Even Ichigo himself currently doesn't know how powerful that form is.

Yammy is actually a fairly weak hollow.
His ability is to eat/absorb weaker souls and convert them into raw power, causing him to grow. When he releases his sword all the accumulated power is used. In other words, he has no upper limit on his power because he steals it from others. However, he doesn't know how to use it properly, which is why he grows so huge- he can't condense his power.

Prolonged time in Hueco Mundo will cause the Vizard's powers to grow.
...leading to their inner hollows showing up again Chad said that his powers were similar to a hollow's, and felt like it was 'coming home' Ichigo's mask staying on for longer and longer,

When Ichigo and Unohana get to Fake Karakura Town, one of two things will happen
One: Unohana makes note of the fact that one of the towers fell, but Ichigo corrects her by saying that he (the only one not under Complete Hypnosis) can't see any towers.

Two: It turns out that Unohana, Old Man Genocide, and Shunsui Kyouraku are involved in Aizen's plot, or are the ones who actually want the King's Key. Captain Tuberculosis could be in on it too.


 * I was thinking something similar to number one, I'll bet anything that something at least will be different from what the Captains (and us) think is happening, I was thinking maybe the top three faked their deaths. But for two, even if Old Man Genocide and/or Unohana are traitors I just can't see it of Grabass and Tuberculosis. They are too firmly established as good guys.
 * It'd be interesting (and shippingtastic) if it was only Captain Mom, according to a theory way above. It'd explain why Aizen didn't attack her. Also, he's actually trying to protect her (not sure of what), and Ichigo will understand how he feels, which will be the key to discover Aizen's weakness (like a theory above).
 * Neither of these happened.

Yammy's Release Power has nothing to do with Cero or direct combat
It's actually to cause strife among his opponents, and is responsible for the combat between Kenpachi and Byakuya. Another, not necessarily exclusive possibility is...

Yammy's rank is because of his ridiculous endurance
Taking blows from Ichigo, Kenpachi and Byakuya? Yammy isn't powerful because he's got amazing attack or flash? He's the highest ranked because of his massive HP. Essentially this makes him the Blissey of Bleach.
 * Yammy used Softboiled!
 * Espada ranks are based on raw power alone.

Unohana is planning to betray the Soul Society because of the Quincy genocide
She'll probably have been the highest ranking member of the Gotei 13 who oppossed the idea even if it was to balence out the spirits or whatever. She still carries with her a hatred for those involved and plans to take over Soul Society herself, using Ichigo as a trump card.
 * It'd be interesting if her Bankai was a bow. Just so we could, in fact, link one thing to another. Her shikai is probably a manta-shaped blade of sorts (I copied the idea from a Subeta weapon, but please, don't kill me). Also, it'd be funny if she scolded Ishida for being so... Haphazardous. Oh, the irony. Worst part? I was planning something similar in my fanfiction.
 * Could we get a link to that fanfic?
 * So far there's no sign of this.

Tosen's plan of "the way of least bloodshed" has worked perfectly
None of the protagonists are dead despite Aizen trying to kill them all for quite some time. JUST AS PLANNED!

Unohana is on Aizen's side
Not sure if it was listed above, and not related to the one just above but the reason for her recent 'doublethink' in the last couple of chapters. When she told him that he was the only one who could help them, he was talking about soul society, but when she was thinking about how he could be the 'trump card they need'then she might have been hinting at an upcoming possible betrayal. Could also explain why she is only now healing and restoring his spirit energy, instead of doing it before.
 * She says that the reason she didn't restore his spirit energy before is because she looked at his healed body and Captain level power and thought he was restored. She didn't realize that Ichigo has more raw power than an average Captain.
 * Keyword is that she says.... She could have been mistaken either way, but the thought afterwards does seem to be of a different tone then the rest of what she has said or even shown so far.
 * She thinks it. I doubt she's thinking lies just to trick us.
 * No she isn't.

All of the Captains are plotting against each other.
Unohana believes Yamamoto has overstepped or abused his authority, so once Aizen's out of the way, she's going to take him out. Kyoraku and Ukitake are either her co-conspirators, or plotting against him seperately, but they probably have Hitsugaya on their side. Soi Fon, Byakuya, and Komamura are allied with Yamamoto, but they have their own agendas which will eventually pit them against each other. Mayuri doesn't care who wins as long as he can expirament on them. Kenpachi doesn't care who wins, as long as he gets to fight. Once Aizen and company are defeated, they'll enact their plans. Ichigo will decide it's not his problem ande leave.

Yammy's second form is not Segunda Etapa.
I'm only posting this to pre-empt the flood of people who're going to say it is.

I'VE CRACKED THE CODE ON AIZEN'S PLANS IN THE CURRENT ARC!!
By the time this arc is over, I have a feeling that things will only get worse for Ichigo and Co. Orihime's final breaking point will probably be when she finds out the extent of her power...and them not being what she was led to believe by Aizen. This is of course, Aizen we are talking about here, the same man who played Soul Society like his own puppet show for who knows how long. Speaking of which...

In Soul Society, Aizen's goals were to have Rukia executed so he could get his hands on the Sogyoku, and he killed the Central 46 the moment Rukia was captured, and proceeded to give out orders to Soul Society using Kyoka Suigetsu. When Ichigo and Co arrived in Soul Society, he adapted his plans, and utilized the chaos they created to stage his "demise", but since the Gotei 13 were hung up on the matter of the Ryoka, only Captain Unohana suspected his plans, but even then it was too late. And when push came to shove, when Ichigo saved Rukia's life, he had to directly intervene, and extract the Hogyoku personally, revealing his true self in the process. But in the end, he still got what he wanted: the Hogyoku.

Comparing his plans in Hueco Mundo to those in Soul Society, a clear difference and motive can be indicated. Aizen specifically had Ulquiorra kidnap Orihime not to kill her, but to use her powers. Aizen goes on to state as Orihime healed Grimmjow's arm, that her power "violated the realm of gods", that her ability was rejection. He showed her the Hogyoku, and told her, "Please think of the fact that I have shown you this as a sign of my trust in you. Your power is the rejection of events. It reverses everything that has occurred, and annihilates the event itself. It is an extraordinary power. I need your power, Orihime. You will use that power of yours for my sake, won't you?" Later, Orihime tells herself, "I don't believe that he showed me the H?gyoku because he trusts me... but, at least I have learned the location of the H?gyoku... and... about my own power, too. Everything that has occured... it reverses it all, and destroys the very event itself. Thank you, Kurosaki, for coming to save me, but I've found something I must do here. And it's definitely...something only I can do. With my power... I will return the H?gyoku to before it ever existed!" After Nnoitra is defeated, and Orihime returned to the tower, he then tells everyone that Orihime's kidnapping was only a ruse to lure Ichigo and Co to Las Noches, deprive Soul Society of a valuable military asset, and since four captains followed the Ryoka, along with the three who defected, Soul Society's military strength was sliced in half. He leaves behind Ulquiorra and Yammy to defend Las Noches, while he leaves for Fake Karakura Town with the rest of the Espada. In Hueco Mundo, Hollow Ichigo takes over after Ichigo has a hole blown through him, and kills Ulquiorra, and now Ichigo is leaving for FKT to confront Aizen, while the remaining Captains (Byakuya and Kenpachi, since Mayuri isn't fighting), deal with Yammy.

Now since the arc isn't over, I pose this question: Why did Aizen tell Orihime about her power, and show her the Hogyoku? My answer: It was all an illusion from the beginning. From her leaving with Ulquiorra, to Aizen telling her of her power, to Aizen showing her the Hogyoku, to her own belief that she can reject the Hogyoku's existence, Aizen was crafting a scenario that no matter what way events turn out in Hueco Mundo, one thing would be achieved: the completion of the Hogyoku. He knows that as a friend, Ichigo wouldn't allow Orihime to come of harm, protecting his "puppet" until the appointed event is met, so he is confident that Orihime will do what he wants her to do. If Orihime could really reject the Hogyoku out of existence, Aizen wouldn't have let her near it to begin with, much less show it to her. She was given the illusion that her powers were god-like, able to reject anything from existence, giving her motive to "destroy" the Hogyoku, making her beileve it was something only she could do. The truth is, her power can only "repair the damage done" to an object, as her fairies told her in the beginning. Urahara knew this, so he tried to keep her away from the fighting, so she wouldn't be used the way she was being used now. When she was captured, he allowed Ichigo and Co, and the captains, to get into Las Noches, hoping that this is what they would do: Get in, defeat the Espada there, grab Orihime, and take her out of there, procuring the Hogyoku, so HE could dismantle it, and deprive Aizen of a valuable asset. However, he couldn't predict how events would play out, and inevitable, just as Aizen planned, she'd restore the Hogyoku to it's original state.

In FKT, Aizen even had a plan in case the Vizards came, and the Espada were overwhelmed, which I think is still being put in effect: now that he knows that his current Top 3 Espada, (excluding Yammy and Ulquiorra) weren't a match for Soul Society and the Vizards, he, Gin and Kaname are taking matters into their own hands, along with whom I suspect is a Hogyoku-created Vasto Lordes Arrancar of greater power than any Espada sans Ulquiorra's Second Release, Wonderweiss Margera, who has currently punched a hole through Ukitake, nullified Toshiro's most powerful attack, has managed to nullify Mashiro's Cero, and even her mask, all with screams (surviving one of her mask-charged kicks without a scratch earlier), and is currently clashing unreleased with Kensei's Bankai. Hiyori has already been bifurcated by Gin's Shikai, Hachigen is incapacitated from his fight with Barragan, Rojuro (Rose) and Love were injured by Starrk's wolves, but are still able to fight, as invited to by Aizen, along with the rest of the Vizard still standing, as Kensei is in combat with Wonderweiss, and Mashiro was injured from Wonderweiss's punches, who hasn't even drawn his sword to fight at all. Gin and Aizen have yet to show Bankai to the readers, and Wonderweiss has yet met an opponent who has forced him to release, which would be disastrous for Soul Society, since if he is stronger than Starrk and Yammy, Ichigo won't be able to hold a match to him, even if all his reiatsu is restored. Right now, Aizen is patiently waiting for Orihime to accomplish the task he manipulated her to do through his illusion, while picking off the weakened opposition while he is at it.

It was a three-pronged strategy: He weakens Soul Society and the Vizards by killing their members, and trapping four of them in Hueco Mundo (even though Unohana and Ichigo are on their way to FKT), has manipulated Orihime into thinking she can destroy the Hogyoku, while she'll only end up repairing it, and furthers his plans by using the above plans simultaneously, and gauging his army's current strength, which with a complete Hogyoku, he can replace with even more powerful Arrancar than before, and succeed against Soul Society in the second round. For him, FKT's just a warm-up; a test run of his army, and Orihime in HM will repair his ultimate tool, the Hogyoku. He'll also probably use the Hogyoku on himself, Gin and Tousen after it is repaired, giving them powers on par with Ichigo's mask, since the Vizard, as he said, were failed experiments, while Ichigo is a genuine Vizard, evolving in power unlike the masks of the Vizards Aizen created, whose masks haven't evolved over the course of 100 years, and the masks the Hogyoku will grant them will be on par with Ichigo's. It is a scenario, that Aizen knows, he cannot lose in any way imaginable. He will still get what he wanted: The Hogyoku repaired, and with it, he'll gain Hollow powers, and build a new and improved army of Arrancars to destroy Soul Society.
 * He probably already used the Hougyoku on Tousen (at least). Remember, he doesn't trust anyone, and never told them to trust him. He probably told Tousen he'd give him something more powerful, only to give him am incomplete mask, to use him as an experiment. What he doesn't really expect is Unohana's intervention.
 * Well, he'll have to wait until the Hogyoku is restored to use it on himself, since in it's inactive state, he has to use his own reiatsu to force it awake. As for Tousen, I think that his mask is a perfect Vizard mask, unlike those of Shinji's vizards, as he is a Hogyoku-created Vizard now. I don't think he'd be surprised with Unohana's intervention, and has more than enough strength to fight against her. What did you think of the rest of the theory?
 * TLDR

Ulquiorra is not dead
This theory has been put up before, but here is more proof:

Has anyone ever noticed how Hollows and Arrancars disintegrate when they die, and how Ulquiorra turned to ash?

Two notable examples are Grand Fisher and Zommari Leroux. When we see both of them die in the manga, they disintegrate like this:

http://www.onemanga.com/Bleach/188/01/

http://www.onemanga.com/Bleach/302/17/

Ulquiorra does this:

http://www.onemanga.com/Bleach/353/17/

http://www.onemanga.com/Bleach/353/22/

So one of my questions is this: while Zommari and Grand Fisher break apart in blobs and disintegrate, Ulquiorra in the end dissolves into ash, and vanishes into the wind. Why would Kubo draw Ulquiorra's death like that, while Zommari and Grand Fisher went like above? Heck, even Sora disintegrated the same way as Zommari and Grand Fisher.

On top of all the development Kubo placed into Ulquiorra; the Segunda Resurreccion Etapa, and the fact he possesses REGENERATION, and his views on the superiority of Hollows, I am convinced that Ulquiorra will be coming back (but not as a good guy).


 * I'd say it's because those particles are the souls the hollow is composed of. And Ulquiorra was stronger than Grand Fisher or Zommari by far, and had absorbed more hollows over the course of his existence... Aw, let's face it, Kubo probably just thought it looked cool.

The Ichigo/Orihime/Rukia sorta love triangle is there purely to attract female readers
Sorry shippers, but if it doesn't qualify as a Romantic Plot Tumor, I don't know what does. I've read the story from the beginning, and the hypothetical romantic feelings between Ichigo and Rukia and/or Ichigo and Orihime do NOTHING for the story. It all feels like a smarmy, emotionally manipulative writing tactic to get more girls to buy the manga.
 * It's actually a love pyramid of sorts, if you include all the Ho Yay with Uryuu and Renji.
 * I really disagree. Besides Orihime's feelings toward Ichigo there is really only a few subtle things to suggest each character have feelings for one another, so it can't really be called a love triangle (especially since most of this stuff is pure fan speculation). I think it just serves to be an interesting subplot, and to motivate Orihime's actions. It doesn't take away from the story and at most we'll see a subtle resolution at the end.
 * Not to mention that I personally have never seen any hints in the manga for any pairing involving Ichigo aside of Orihime->Ichigo. She loves him, the rest only exists in shippers' mind who see subtext in everything.

Aizen was betrayed very early in his life, and is actually a sad loner.
It explains how he prefers to betray people, not trust in anyone, and just being a manipulative bastard. Perhaps someone whom he really admired when he was a child betrayed him and his family in the worst way possible, with him being the only survivor in the process. Ichigo will proceed to befriend the crap out of him, and they'll fight against the very own person who betrayed Aizen and made him be who he is, with Aizen atoning for his errors (and dying) in the process.
 * It does fit with his obsession with "the empty throne in heaven." As far as he could be concerned, if there were a more active god in the world, so much could be avoided.

Aizen is the Negative One Espada.
Since by dint of his supreme confidence Aizen must know everything that happens within his ranks, he knows that that trash Yammy fancies himself Number Zero, and that Ulquiorra thought he'd kept his second release secret. So just to show everybody who's really top dog, Aizen will tear off his shirt and reveal a Hollow hole shaped like a horizontal oval (not unlike the eye of Wonderweiss's Gillian spewer)--a giant minus sign. Aizen is so powerful that in a system of ranking by ordinal numbers, he's a negative integer. And then he'll slap on his mask and REALLY go to town.
 * This is incredibly silly.

The following characters will pull a Big Damn Heroes
Neliel Grimmjow Isshin Kurosaki Ryuken Ishida Kisuke Yoruichi

Just because.
 * FUCK YEAH.

A Vizard's ressurecion is their "demihollow" form.
Tousen's just revealed that Vizards have ressurecions, but we don't know the specifics. Here's a shot in the dark: It's the same form Kensei had in the Turn Back the Pendulum arc and Ichigo had during his most recent fight with his Inner Hollow (Though it may have been upgraded to his UberHollow). The trick to Ressurecion will be mastering using the form without having to contest the Inner Hollow the whole time.

Ichigo will achieve his Ressurecion and use it to beat Aizen.
And it's what Hollow Ichigo was referring to at the end of their last fight. Alternatively, UberHollow was his ressurecion, which becomes more likely when you think about what ressurecion actually means. He's going to find out how to enter that form and stay in control.

Aizen will Go Out with a Smile
This is Aizen, and at the end, he'll probably also take into account his own death at Ichigo's hands in his plans. The reason for the smile, is that he died in battle with who equates to the Ultimate Being. His final words: "Aizen: To be beaten by the Ultimate being... (smiles) What a fitting end."

Isshin Kurosaki is actually the King of Soul Society
Or maybe the heir. Aizen knows this; the reason he said that the throne of heavens is empty is because its technical occupant is currently residing in an energy-sucking gigai in the Land of the Living for reasons not known, rather than residing on the throne. Ichigo's insane power levels and even more insanely-rapid levelling up are because, as a member of the Royal family and not suffering from a patented Urahara-brand draining Gigai, he's inherently superior to the regular Soul Reapers.

The entire arc was just an illusion by Aizen
The Espada that Aizen brought with him are all still alive. They'll proceed to defeat the Shinigami, only to reveal that they were actually good guys all along and that there's an even greater evil that they need to fight.

Orihime will help defeat Aizen
Since Tsubaki can, you know, cut anything, why not Aizen's illusions? It'll be pretty badass from her, if she ever manages to do so.
 * Jossed.

Aizen and Gin's ressurected forms.
For Gin, I'm thinking something with a lot of teeth. For Aizen, some kind of angel or kingly persona.
 * Partially jossed. Neither had any ressureccion, but Aizen did transform into something resembling an angel.

Wonderweiss has been under a mask of Obfuscating Stupidity the entire time.
He's just a little special, that's all. He perfectly understands everything that's going on around him, but he can't communicate back too well. My reasoning? The more intelligent a hollow, the more humanlike their Arrancar form is. What's the most inhuman thing about Wonderweiss? His buckteeth. Not even Ulquiorra looked that human- only the three Espada Aizen brought to Karakura did, and Harribel still had inhuman coloring. The only counter-argument is that only Vasto Lorde are 100% guaranteed a human form- making Wonderweiss dangerously intelligent, dangeroulsy powerful, or both. Lose-lose for the heroes.

Harribel didn't want to kill anybody until her fraccion were slain; when Aizen called her "weak", he meant she was hesitating to kill.
Prior to Yamamoto's big arrancar grilling for Apache, Sun-Sun, and Milia Rose, Harribel is clearly not going at it as hard as she could in spite of her serious personality and this being the decisive battle. She even expresses some concern when she notices Hitsugaya's focus divided when Momo retakes the field. Given what we've learned about Starrk, it's not inconceivable that Harribel became an espada to protect Apache, Sun-Sun, and Milia Rose, who were her friends from their Hollow days, and followed Aizen to repay him for letting them live as Arrancar. Even so, Harribel had no killing intent and so held back against Hitsugaya until her Nakama were slaughtered, causing her to go Mama Bear (observe the completely one-sided ass-whupping Toshiro gets when Harribel first goes Let's Get Dangerous on him before releasing.) However, Harribel is at her core a rational woman rather than an emotional one and checked herself from grinding Hitsugaya into powder by realizing she was taking out her rage on someone not involved in her grudge. She released her sword and tried to one-shot him to get him out of the way quickly so she could avenge her fraccion, and when Hitsugaya refused to die, constantly held back, both wanting to save her strength for Yamamoto and because she was hesitant to harm Hitsugaya when he wasn't her "real enemy". This handily explains how a woman acknowledged as Ulquiorra's better (at least in Ulquiorra's first release, which was still more than enough to defeat Vizard Ichigo, who is stronger than Hitsugaya) failed to defeat Hitsugaya despite clearly proving the superior combatant when she was running on pure Mama Bear rage.

When the Vizards got involved, Harribel was even less willing to fight to kill, seeing the interlopers as strangers she hadn't been told Aizen expected her to kill. Still wanting to fight Yamamoto and only Yamamoto, Harribel held back yet again, hesitating to go all-out against anyone but her friends' killer. Aizen, disgusted by the realization Harribel would hesitate to kill, offed her himself for being too soft-hearted.

Given that Harribel has not disintegrated onscreen, and is indeed the only Arrancar that has not had a real death scene, it is entirely possible she has still narrowly survived (it takes a lot of punishment to kill an Arrancar, compared to the fairly light slash and stab wound Aizen left her with) and may be saved by Unohana, or, more likely, Orihime, whose empathy for Hollows would allow her to sympathize with Harribel. Given that Apache, Sun-Sun, and Milia Rose still exist as charred corpses, Orihime could also stop Harribel's desire for vengeance by reviving them and letting them return to Hueco Mundo together.

The Cero Espada was knowledge to some of the higher-ups in Hueco Mundo, but was not confirmed as possible until Yammy finally released after a long buildup

 * Yammy is generally treated like a joke by the other Espada, and the rank of tenth appears to be confirmed by Shawlong's account (given that he's one of the oldest Arrancar, he should know how the hierarchy works, including the original ten Espada). Ulquiorra comments offhandedly that Yammy is no match for Yoruichi and Urahara, and that he would have been expelled from the Espada if he'd lost an arm. Hardly the treatment of a secret weapon surpassing Starrk, don't you think?

However, the explanation of "anger is my strength" comes in here; emotions are volatile, unpredictable things; just because Yammy CAN become a 0-level Espada when he is angry and charged up enough does not mean he ALWAYS becomes one. As such, his ranking could jump all over the place when releasing, while Yammy's enormous Ego filled in the gaps to make himself sound important when he got to show off Ira when he was, luckily enough, at his very angriest. Under normal circumstances, however, the top 4 are indeed stronger than Yammy, and Aizen didn't consider him a resource of any great value because his power level was wildly unpredictable and even with immense levels of anger-fueled power, Yammy still sucked at fighting.

Aizen is the rightful King of Soul Society.
This isn't the same thing as "Aizen is the king'' far above, this is more related to "Aizen was betrayed" WMG, as well as why Aizen wants to be the ultimate being. Aizen is way too powerful, and he seems to always have been. He seems to have always known about the "King of Soul Society", as well. Given how he hates trusting other people, doesn't want people to trust in him, yet wants to be the king who "all trust", it is entirely possible that Aizen was the son of the King, who was killed in a Coup D'etat by the Royal Guard, who the King had trusted with his life. Aizen therefore wants to become the ultimate being so he can finally trust other people again- because even if they betray him it won't mean a thing.

The Next Arc of Bleach
If Bleach is to continue, I'd like to present a possible idea for a future arc.

Think of it as a Soul Society Rebellion...no not that Zanpakut? Filler thing.

In one of the early chapters, Ishida and Ichigo had a Hollow killing contest (where a tape measure REALLY would have sufficed]]), this is where alot about the Quincy and the Shinigami are explained.

Rukia says something about how the Shinigami have to keep a balance of souls between Soul Society and the Human World and that the Quincy's Hollow killing...pretty much sent this straight to hell.

That always struck me as odd, since apparently, shooting a Hollow with a laser banhammers it out of existence, but cutting it to shit with a Zanpakuto does nothing of the sort.

Also, if the balance is between Soul Society and the Human World, how would killing something that came from Hueco Mundo affect the balance between Soul Society and the Human World?

What's more, how would that explain Hueco Mundo, Hell or the King's Realm even existing?

I say to that...

Bollocks.

I say that there is something fucked up in Chinatown, mates.

Since the whole balance of souls things makes no sense, in a world where suspension of disbelief says that there are Kimono wearing ghosts having sword fights on the roof of your house at night, I'd say it's likely that the Shinigami's of old created the BS story as a means to hide something.

Let's say the real reason the Quincy's were wiped out was to silence them, assuming they found out.

Let's say Aizen found out and decided to expose the truth, albeit in a morally ambiguous way. (Seriously, all that shit he pulled on the Vice-Captains and the Vizard...not cool.)

He hatched this 100-year-long Xanatos Gambit in an attempt to expose the Shinigami's secret. (They DO love Apples!)

Granted, a major part of his plans would seem to involve finding the Soul Society King, we can only assume the secret involves him. (if he even exists.)

Now of course, this would all be revealed in a blaze of glory after Aizen's demise.

At which point, Soul Society would be pretty much cluster fucked into a civil war, likely caused by whatever was revealed.

Now, the captains would probably be split evenly between the two sides of the civil war, with Ichigo and company (and likely The Vizard, Grimmjow, and that one Prima Espada who got pwned by Chad then saved by Unohana) with one side or another.

This would allow for a new story arc without introducing a ton of characters, allow for some cast death (which the fans are begging for...I think), allow Uryuu to get his revenge on Kurotsuchi and to see some of the fights that have been being built up for awhile but otherwise couldn't take place. (Ukitake and Kyoraku VS Captain Grandpa, Ichigo VS Byakuya, and if the games are to be taken seriously Kenpachi VS Byakuya).

Now of course the arc doesn't have to play out exactly like that, its just a basic idea that I came up with while grinding in Persona 4.
 * I agree for the most part; the whole 'cleanse the sins' thing seems like a load of BS. It seems far more likely that the Zanpakuto just sends the soul to Soul Society or 'eats' the spirit. However, this troper personally loves huge numbers of characters.

Zangetsu and Hollow Ichigo's form/true power
Within Ichigo's inner realm, both Zangestu and Hollow Ichigo (hereafter referred to as Ustegnaz)take human form. For Ustegnaz, it has been seen that there is a possibility of multiple forms. Zangetsu, on the other hand, has always been seen in the same form. Even in the Zanpakuto filler arc, where the other Zanpakuto spirits specifically resembled the Shinigami they belong to, Zangetsu remained in his familiar form. This may mean that Zangetsu deliberately chooses his own form. In extension, it is possible that both Zangetsu and Ustegnaz's true power stems from a fact of their existence; they are formless, and exist solely by will. They can take multiple forms, and it's possible that Zangetsu's overcoat can extend if needed.

As a side-note, Ustegnaz, aside from being a backwards spelling of Zangetsu, also sounds somewhat like 'Ustedes', which is basically Spanish for 'You (plural)'. It's random and not intentional, but Ichigo's second form vaguely resembled that of Ulquiorra.

Kenpachi has unknowingly discovered either a new Shunpo equivalent or
He defeat his Zanpakuto off-screen and is unknowingly using its abilities, which grant him said speed. Because was I the only one to notice he used a Shunpo like move in episode 249 which didn't sound like either Shunpo or Sonido? When he never displayed such capability before?

Or its a screw-up by the whoever planned the filler arc.
 * He did something similar in the fight against Ichigo. Some theorize it's just leg strength.

The multipile dimentions are allegories for the Six Buddhist Realms of Existance
Note: Not actual realms like the Christian Heaven and Hell, but rather states of mind. For example, being in the middle of a Curb Stomp Battle is Hell while getting caught up in a Marshmallow Hell is quite Heavenly, but this can change in an instant (the cavalry appears; meanwhile, you discover that all of those marshmallows belong to Slanaash).
 * Heaven: The as-yet unseen King's Realm.
 * Hell: Hell, of course.
 * Human: Living realm, ditto.
 * Animal: Hueco Mundo, and the worst parts of Rukongai require the bare minimum of life.
 * Hungry Ghost: Also Heuco Mundo - every creature is a Hollow, and the only way to survive and grow strong is to eat other Hollows and souls with an unquenchable hunger.
 * Fighting Demon: Fake Karakura Town, which was built especially for a battle.
 * Alternate interpretation derived from the above, based on known worlds:
 * Deva: King's Realm
 * Human: Living
 * Asura: Seireitei
 * Animal: Las Noches
 * Preta: Hueco Mundo
 * Naraka: Rukongai


 * And then it will turn out that Pain is really the king of Soul Society?
 * Since Naruto isn't exactly modern-day it's entirely possible.

Ichigo will pull a Shiryuu
I heard that Kubo mentioned Saint Seiya was an inspiration for him; and Unohana even said that he must not see Aizen's shikai, no matter what.

Aizen hypnotized himself with Kyoka Suigetsu.
He's using it to reverse the effects of Sakanade by reverting his senses back to normal.
 * Yeah, that's what I thought when I saw him shrug off the effects so fast. As soon as he knew how it worked he was back to being invincible.

Tragedy will ensue if Sakanade's power indiscriminately affects everyone that smells it.
Hopefully it's the same as Aizen's and one must be present for the actual release to be affected. Otherwise, Ichigo's going to be in for some fun.
 * Actually, that would be AWESOME.

Sakanade won't effect Ichigo because of his Inner World.
It's already sideways, how much more confusing do you need?

Ichigo is the reincarnation of Rukia's sister
Also:Rukia and her sister were reincarnations of a pair of lover's who committed suicide.

Unohana will fight Gin
Come on, she has been hyped up for FAR long time. We really need to see her in action.

Mizuiro Kojima is half-demon
Yes, cute and adorable Mizuiro. But hear me out: In the official character book, part of his description says 'He has a cute face, but he's actually a ????'. So he's cute, but he's WHAT? Despite his cheerful appearance, he can actually be quite cruel, such as when he was shown not accepting his own mother. I suspect that either his mother or father (possibly the latter) was a demon, and a seal was put on Mizuiro to supress his demon half when he was a child, and they broke apart afterwards.
 * Always thought that he was actually a pervert, but that works fine as well.

Aizen isn't actually after the Key.
With all the super-careful planning he does, it seems pretty suspicious that he wouldn't clear his browser search for it and just leave it there for anyone to find. The whole thing about him wanting the King's Key is all a ruse, and the entire Soul Society is unwittingly helping him get what he really wants. The arc will probably wrap up with everyone thinking they're finally about to beat him, and then he says "Yeah, all this was part of my plan. Thanks for the help, losers!" and then puts on a pair of kickass sunglasses and flies off.

When he was present when Grand Fisher became an Arrancar, D-Roy was in his released state.
Generally it's hard to tell just what we're looking at here, but what is apparent is that D-Roy is leaning on some snake-like thing that looks a bit like his Adjuchas form; likely his "tail" from the waist down. This would also explain the large difference in his appearance from then to the Arrancar Arc, besides Kubo changing his mind as usual.
 * That's not D-Roy, it's Iceringer.
 * No, lower. Last and third-to-last panels.

Aizen's illusions require some kind of set-up
That's why he didn't simply use his illusions to kill everyone right on the start. Also, this troper's memory may be failing, but all illusions started off-screen, where he had enough time to get it ready.

Kenpachi will finally achieve Bankai after just making up a name for his Zanpakut?
Just like how he named himself and Yachiru.

Yoruichi doesn't have a zanpakuto because she used Urahara's bankai doll, but failed the test
Ichigo never lets her tell us the cost of failure, and she clearly thinks it is important. Plus in flashbacks we see her carrying a zanpakto, but she doesn't carry one now.

Ichigo, Uryu and Ginjo will break into the Soul Society to rescue Aizen
Ichigo and Ginjo are the only sane people left and Uryu is the only one to be cut by Book of The End and (seemingly) not affected by its powers and he realises that to even have a chance of saving their friends, they need to pull a Bigger Mind Rape on them than the one Tsukishima has pulled in order to not-quite break his curse but place their own curse in its place, and Ichigo knows just what they need, Kyoka Suigetsu. But problem #1 is that it disintergrated during the final battle and problem #2 is Aizen is in jail, but seeing as Ichigo is...well, Ichigo and he's slowly losing his mind, he's willing to give it a shot, break into the Soul Society (somehow) and Ichigo or Ginjo will use Fullbring to extract the Soul of Kyoka Suigetsu from Aizen, and while we're at it, we may find out if Ginjo actually is Aizen's son (which, in turn, may lead to some You're Not My Father, I Have No Son and I Hate You, Vampire Dad moments when they reunite). But Isshin and Urahara know what they're up too and that sword they have with them will permanentaly seal Ichigo's reiatsu away, why? Because Ichigo still has traces of the power the Hogyoku gave him and so much as coming into contact with Aizen will reawake all his [Aizen's] powers.
 * Jossed. Ginjo was evil all along, Uryuu appears to be dead (again), and Ichigo has recovered his Shinigami powers.

Tatsuki and Keigo plus maybe Chizuru will become Fullbringers
They're shown to have some kind of power, so why not?

Tite Kubo is a troll.
Thus, the series will continue to get more ridiculous, but in a predictable way, because the absurdities will come from what annoys the fandom most.

Tsukishima is going to get curbed stomped.
....... Because he deserves it; not only just inserting himself into the lives of Ichigo's friends as some Marty Stu,

Hanataro is the love child of Unohana and Kenpachi
It explains why his zanpakuto both heals and destroys. Sadly, he did not win the Superpower Lottery, so Kenpachi refuses to admit he has fathered such a weakling. Wishing to avoid scandal, Unohana quietly passes him off to her loyal, obedient lieutenant Seinosuke to raise as his little brother.

One the nature of the realms
My thought is that Soul Society and Hueco Mundo are in the same realm, just really, really far apart- far enough that the souls in either location don't realise it- and the different methods of travel to and from the Real World are just different tewhines that do basicly the same thing but with cosmetic differences, like shunpo/sonido. The realm they're in (possibly also containing other groups like Hueco Mundo and Soul Society) is actually Purgatory, the place souls go when they're waiting to be judged; if they haven't been notable enough in the Living W Orld to move on directly to Heaven or Hell, they have enough time in Soul Society/Hueco Mundo for that to be determined. Eventually souls, having been through their reward or punishment, are then returned to the Living World to start over.

Aizen's Bankai
As anyone who has studied philosophy knows, there are two types of ideas. Ideas that are produced via our senses, and ideas produced via our imagination. Now, Kyoka Suigestu has the power to influence the senses in shikai, so logically in bankai it would have the power to influence people's thoughts and emotions. The reason Aizen hasn't used it is because thoughts are harder to influence: it usually just breaks the mind of the target.

Tsukishima is actually Hanatarou's older brother.
I'm definitely not the first one to notice this, but Tsukishima bears an alarming resemblance to the former vice-captain of the fourth squad, Seinosuke. A long time ago, new shinigami Seinosuke got lost on a mission to the human world and somehow lost his robes along the way. Ginjo found him (after he became the new Substitute Shinigami) and realized that Seinosuke was far too much of a troublemaker to join him immediately. Instead, he helped Seinosuke get back to Soul Society and told him to look him up if they ever met again. Seinosuke went on to become a vice-captain, but eventually his bad behaviour started getting out of control. When the captains found out that he once befriended Ginjo, facts blew out of proportion and it was the last straw. Finally, Seinosuke was exiled from Soul Society, stripped of his powers, and sent to live in the human world. Feeling angered and betrayed, Seinosuke sought out Ginjo, adopted a new name, and activated his fullbring powers. Nobody mentions this because all the shinigamis sent to the human world are too young to know Seinosuke. The older captains in Soul Society know what's going on, but they're keeping it a secret for unknown reasons. After Tsukishima dies, Hanatarou will somehow be notified, recognize his brother, go mental, and vow to kill Byakuya. I'm actually hoping this will happen so bad now...
 * Alternatively, he gave his powers to Ginjo in parallel to how Rukia first met Ichigo. Things don't work out and Ginjo eventually goes rogue. For Central 46, this is the last straw in a series of suspicious incidents and is used as justification to strip him of his powers. He is made Unperson, with everyone simply saying he 'had a bad character' whenever Hanataro asks about him. Banished to the Human World, he vows revenge. At some point he runs into Hanataro and recognizes him because he is wearing his old medic kit, that was passed on to Hanataro after his banishment. He realizes that Unohana kept her promise and protected his little brother for all those years. He is disappointed to see Hanataro has not become a strong fighter, but still tries to show him affection. Hanataro, not recognizing his older brother, aware of his abilities and thinking its some kind of trick, simply rejects him. This drives him over the edge, Seinosuke/Tsukishima attempts to kill his last link to Soul Society, but Isane intervenes and duels him, overcoming her past fear of her predecessor.

The Villains of the "Final Holy War/Thousand-Year Blood War" are Quincy's
Four things pointing to this... ...So yeah, Quincy's
 * #1; Look at the color page...no, look at THOSE FREAKING COLLARS.
 * #2; A shadowy figure crushes something in his hand and this happens....crushing a small object that leads to a hollow infestation? Sound familiar?
 * #3: The beginning of the arc notes that hollows are being destroyed instead of purified...now who were notorious for doing just that?
 * And #4; according to Mayuri, only one party were capable of destroying hollows, meaning that it's the work of "THEM and them alone"
 * So far,.

Kirio Hikifune was Aizen's One True Love and her death, somehow caused by the Soul King, led him to betray Soul Society.
We know Aizen was trying to build a Hogyoku long before he was notified of Hikifune's promotion (or, alternately, "disappearance"). Based on the many theories above that the Soul King is actually a prisoner or a demon or some sort of extremely evil being with the Royal Guard as a restraint, it's entirely possible that Aizen would blame Hikifune's death on him. And we know that Aizen was always power-hungry, but Hikifune's death may have been the last straw before he actively started pursuing Hollow powers. Also, in Episode 206, at the very beginning of the Turn Back the Pendulum arc, check out Aizen's reaction to the news of Hikifune's "promotion" - Aizen, who by now should be a master actor, is visibly shocked. She must have meant a lot to him.

The interaction between Tobiume and Haineko is a reflection of what Hinamori and Mastumoto actually think about each other.
Hinamori subconsciously thinks Matsumoto is a slut, and Matsumoto thinks Hinamori is an obnoxious child. They also have issues concerning their complicated relationship both with traitors (Aizen and Gin, respectively) and with Hitsugaya.

The Leader of Vandenreich will be Ishida's Evil Counterpart.
Because why not?
 * Jossed, if anything the leader of the Vandenreich is Yamamoto's Evil Counterpart

Vandenreich will include one more Token Minority member
. Judging by his name, it's safe to assume Ivan is Russian or atleast of Russian heritage, so who's to say there aren't more foreign quincy's? Seriously, you can't say that a French/Scottish/Irish or Spanish Quincy wouldn't be awesome...

Aizen never had a Bankai.
He was already maxed out in all areas, and from the nature of his Shikai, he deduced that mastering Bankai is not worth the effort for him. He made up something flashy and water related to trick the court into promoting him because a captain's position worked to his advantage.

The Soul Reapers are not, as a whole, corrupt or incompetent as they might appear
Rather, they use the Dilbert Principle: incompetent people are promoted up to management where they do little harm. Thus, the ones who stay in Soul Society, aside from the captains, lieutenants, and a good portion of the seated officers, are the ones who were idiots or unreliable, resulting in the impression of bullies they sometimes give; ones that are powerful or politically influential, but not reliable or bright, get to become part of the Central 46. All the ones with actual talent and/or devotion to the duty of a soul reaper get sent out on patrol missions in the land of the living which, being as big as it is, means we never see them

Zangetsu is dead
See, when Ichigo used FGT, he basically sacrificed all his powers for that chance at killing an immortal, and his powers were Zangetsu (Gravelly and Chibi) and The-One-Often-Referred-To-As-Hichigo. So, in theory, they died. Now, when Rukia stabbed Ichigo with the glowy white sword of impowerment, I think, they basically gave Ichigo's powers a jump start, like the crash-paddle things doctors use. That revived Ichigo's powers and got his body making it's own again, but, his sword is now brain dead. It answers to his call, he can still use it's power, or his power I suppose, but Zangetsu's gone, it's just an empty sword, like Kenpachi's. I reckon Kenpachi's could have just been "born" that way, after all, there's never any guarantee that you'll be born healthy. Not sure what this means for "Hichgo No-Name" but I think it also explains why Ichigo looks like he's emotionally void when he fights now.

Ichigo's Transcendent form was Shirosaki inside Tensa Zangetsu
Every time Ichigo's gotten a new power in the past, he's had to defeat the embodiment of that power, Zangetsu and the field of swords, Shirosaki with the Vizards, and this time he fought and amalgamated Tensa Zangetsu and Vasto Lordus Shirosaki. We thought all he got out of that fight was the Final Getsuga, but really, all the accepting the sword really did was tell him how to do it, but a=what Ichigo really did, was defeat TZ while he was in control of Shirosaki! Cos, we all know Hollow Ichigo wants to devour Ichigo, not protect him! So I think the flesh and sword fusing thing that Ichigo did in the final fight, and the reason Ichigo could access so much power without the mask is because his hollow powers were being contained within the newly styled bankai! This more natural form, given he's actually half-shinigami and the hollow thing was just some freak thing... yeah cos Urahara wasn't planning nothing while looking innocent with the fan and the whole "No, he hasn't went poof yet, give him a minute!" Anyway, all that power, Bankai, Captain-level-power, but Ichigo's supposed to have more reiatsu than them anyway, and the power of a Vasto Lordus, all chaotic and insane, all compressed into that ridiculously stoic form, is the true source of Ichigo's spontaneous ascent to Godliness!

The king of Soul Society is actually required to keep something even more horrifying in check
If he's removed from his dimension, whatever horrible thing he's protecting against will. Aizen's Hougyoku was somehow influenced by that mysterious force and compelled Aizen into destroying the king. His transormation under the Hougyoku's effect was actually.

Masaki is actually Kirio Hikifune
Along with protecting the Soul King, members of Squad Zero are sometimes sent out to protect humans with strong spiritual power until they grow to an age when they can protect themselves. At that point, they are trained to become shinigami and eventually become part of Squad Zero themselves. Unfortunately, all the time in her gigai left Kirio unprepared for her battle with Grand Fisher and she was defeated protecting her charge.