Were the Top 3 Espada DISAPPOINTING? What Went WRONG with Aizen's STRONGEST Arrancar? | Discussion 

Did the Top 3 Espada fights live up to the hype? Which fight was best...and which was worst? And how do they compare to Yhwach's elite guard? Let me know!

The Stark fight has to earn points becuase it comprised 98% of everything Ukitake ever did in the whole series.

When Halibel used Resurrección my reaction was: "She is winning, why did she use that form?" And my reaction afterwards was: "Why the hell did she get weaker after using Resurrección?"

I think Barragan was great, his abilities too. Stark's backstory was interesting but rushed, his abilities could have been used more creatively. Harribel felt like she deserved better, her backstory was handwaved and her abilities were underwhelming, which is sad for a character with such a cool design.

Starrk definitely disappointed me by not living, like cmon man you were such a good character with a bright future ahead of you you just needed to fight a little harder.

I totally agree. The fact that Ulquiorra gave the heroes a better run for their money than any of the "big three" is perhaps the most concrete example of this problem. Harribel and Starrk are my favourite Espadas from the "big three", and especially Harribel's fight felt like a big letdown. The buildup and backstory she got during the earlier arcs created an image of stoic, wise and powerful leader that could have easily decimated Hitsugaya. Same with Baraggan. I mean, he is basically Death itself, and you shouldn't be able to kill decay.

Crazy what a 180 Kubo did on powerscaling this arc. He started out making the 6th Espada's base form so strong he could solo Bankai Ichigo then almost immediately backtracked just so.... what, Aizen could solo the Gotei 13? Honestly makes me wonder why Aizen even went through the trouble of making a secret hollow army when he ended up doing everything himself in the end

Barragan is a primordial entity. I'm surprised that he and Yamamoto didn't know each other in the original days of the world

I think it comes down to the fact that the Arrancar arc ended up being much bigger then originally planned and that it was the first arc with the Soul Reapers as good guys. It would be a bit weird if they went all out so quickly in the story, but since the threat Aizen posed seems so big, it also felt a bit strange that most of the villains under him went down so quick. In the end, I would say the Espada felt more fleshed out as characters overall, while the Sternritters felt like a bigger overall threat. Which again, makes sense for the villains of the final arc.

Even worse with the battle with Harribel, Toshiro initially goes back to just shikai when Lisa and Hiyori join him. He does go back into bankai, but Kubo’s consistency here was pretty negligible.

Of course they were. Like most things Bleach, outside Ichigo and a few Captains in TYBW, they were super hyped-up to end up doing nothing. I do admit Barragan was great and Starrk's backstory was pretty good. I mean do you remember how fearsome the Menos Grande were at the beginning? And when they talked about Vasto Lordes it was in hushed tones, they were deemed stronger than a captain. Then we see how a lowly evolved Adjuchas could have killed Harribel. Therefore, evolved Vasto Lordes should have been at the very least near-Aizen (sans Hogyouku) level. And yet....they did nothing.

Boy this is a mixed bag Barrigan: Absolutely bonkers ability since its basically certain death on contact. The fact that Kido could be affected also elevated his threat a lot too. Its a shame that he died in this conflict, but it felt like his threat was undermined SUPER HARD by Omaeda shenanigans when he could have ended Soi Feng well before her Bankai went off. Even then, at least his defeat was done in a clever way Harribel: I think this was also a matchup case as much as it was a strange showing from her personally. Her and Toshiro's powers were just too similar, so it caused a weird back-and-forth with each counter attack being bigger than the last. If Aizen didnt jump in and stop the fight, her next counter after being freed by Wonderweiss would have probably been a one shot. Outside of that, she wasn't even troubled with multiple opponents jumping her or fighting Hitsugaia up to that point, which makes her scaling weirder. I wonder what would have happened had she been pitted against anyone else aside from Toshiro Starrk: Should have lived! Though more than anything, him not even forcing anyone to use a Bankai (compared to Barrigan and Harribel) and not having some insanely hax ability like Barrigan was a bit of a letdown for him. Infinite Cero is cool, but that feels like a secondary thing he could have had next to something so much grander (his own Second Release or an additional skill) But more than anything, neither of them killed anyone....even Ulquiorra managed to kill Ichigo (briefly) and the likes of the lower ranking ones seriously wounded several characters

Here’s my problem it’s the opponents they face Harribel: torshiro is more of a great potential character than an already badass one. Lisa and hiyori normally face her with their regular zanpakutos( they also made jokes which didn’t help her intimidation) Barragan: soi fon just fought a fraction and now facing the previous king of huco mundo. This fight feels like kubo mistake on paring each other. He doesn’t want Barragan to kill soi fon and omaeda because of their potential growth. So he made barragan and omaeda play around instead of a serious fight.( his death was a away to not to show come up with another move) Starrk: his just ok, he faced the 2 longest other captains other than Yamamoto. But the problem is that kubo doesn’t want to show bankai here. Personally the FKT arc is a mistake because kubo doesn’t want to sacrifice the good characters

The biggest problem with this arc (and the series in general) is Kubo's unwillingness to kill characters

I do like how Starrk’s character really hammers home how tragic and empty the lives of hollows are. We see from every other hollow that they spend their entire existence fighting and eating, desperately trying to get stronger, hoping that once they ascend to Vasto Lorde they’ll finally be free. But then we see one of the strongest VL’s to ever exist… and his power has left him so isolated and lonely that it ‘literally’ broke him as a person.

Stark never stuck with me. Barrigan has lived in my mind as a villain for awhile. His power was so perfect, and look felt like a fitting final form for a hallow. Harribell seems like her entire thing begins and ends with... Hot.

I still am fully invested in my head canon that Starrk took the opportunity to dip from what was expected to be a killing blow. He’s just out there, running around and hiding out.

Harribel is my favorite because she ultimately cares about her Fracciones who are basically her family. And despite her power/skills she does not desire conflict or killing on a moral basis, refusing the kill or be killed environment of Hueco Mundo. I'm glad she and her companions have survived the horrors of the seemingly endless wars of the Spirit Worlds and have found peace. Apacci sure was a saving angel getting to Orihime after Fake Karakura.

It sounds simple but it’s true. Good guys never lost in Bleach until the First Invasion Arc. We never witnessed these three win a fight, let alone kill anyone. The fights were lacklustre too. Starrk’s opponents being four Captains makes sense. But Soi Fon and Hachi enough to kill the King? Hitsugaya enough to withstand Harribel himself?

Starrk had potential to have really good character development by joining the shinigami and finding comrades he would actually be willing to fight all out for. The primera espada learning to overcome his aspect of death without letting it define him anymore could have been a beautiful little arc in tybw imo.

The interesting thing is that we're lead to believe that the Espada are evil, and the Shinigami are good, but it's far more complex than that. At the end of the day, their way of life was disrupted when Aizen took over, and I guess, in a way, they are forced to engage against the Shinigami, when they probably wouldn't have if Barragan was still ruling. Wanting to fight or not aside, it's also not as if the Espada had any real training for these sorts of circumstances. They're just thrown into a war and expected to perform well

When you think about it, Barragan and Yamamoto should have had some history together. Obviously, Barragan shouldn't be as strong as Yamamoto, but in some ways, he is the Hollow equivalent to the head captain. The ancient ruler of the hollows. I think it could have been interesting if the two recognized each other, making Barragan stand out a bit more than he already does.

To this day I DO NOT understand why Ukitake or Love did not use their bankai against Starrk….I get Kubo wanted to safe Kyoraku’s but there’s no reason why we couldn’t have seen theirs. That would have made the fight more satisfying!!

How does the top 3 Espada do worse than a bunch of the lower numbers? Something tells me Kubo wanted to do more with them

I always disliked how they handled Halibel. She should have downed Histugaya in base form to the point Komamura or someone else joins him, forcing her to activate her Ressurección to counter them. And after they broke her out of the ice, it is frustrating to see that BASE Lisa is casually sparring with her while Hitsugaya and Hiyori are screaming at each other. Based on the power scaling we saw, Lisa's unreleased sword should break on contact against Ressurección Halibel's weapon (and she should not be able to react to her speed, or match her physical strength in any way). Some shinigami should have died during the fight. Just compare it to what the top 3 Upper Moons did to their opponents in Demon Slayer, and we can see how it should have been handled.

The Baraggan fight is still unironically one of my favourite fights in the series with Hachi's final line being one of the most iconic lines in Bleach (for me personally).

There’s a good reason why people think that Ulquiorra is more powerful than his ranking claims despite what he said to Ichigo in their 1st fight. I think his Segunda Etapa at least puts him above Harribel. Harribel felt pretty underwhelming as a 3rd Espada. While it’s true that Toshiro had a counter to her abilities, I thought she would’ve had something else up her sleeve. Toshiro himself claimed that Vasto Lordes were stronger than Captains. And she is a Vasto Lorde Arrancar meaning she should’ve been even way stronger than that considering Toshiro was talking about regular Vasto Lordes when he made that statement. Toshiro wasn’t even among the strongest of Caprains during that time in the story. After her first battle, she was still struggling against 2 lieutenants. Even Aizen cut her down because he deemed her too weak to fight for him. Given Segunda Etapa Ulquiorra’s insane speed, regeneration, and overall power, I cannot imagine him having much trouble if he had the same opponents that Harribel did.

Tbh, there needed to be some casualties on the heroes side in this arc but I think Kubo was too scared to kill someone off

It would have actually been kind of cool if harribel had realized that her power was working against her, and reverted to base form to give herself an advantage. We really never see that happen so it would have been neat

Aizen failed them that’s why they were a disappointment. Unlike the Gotei 13, the Espadas/Arrancar had no academy, no qualifications to join (except be strong), and no sense of team work. The Gotei did everything that the Espadas refused to do: accepted assistance from comrades, took the fight seriously instead of toying with their opponents, and most of all were motivated to be there because they had a good leader instead of a boss who can throw their weight around. Had Aizen cared about their development beyond the surface level of just wanting power, then the outcome would be different. Strength wasn’t why they lost. Keep in mind, each of the top 3 Espadas faced numerous opponents. If they could hold their own against multiple opponents, then they could have gotten the job done against one if they were truly motivated.

Barragan's hax really set the standard. It took multiple captains, including a Vizard, along with the loss of their arms to defeat him. He was terrifying. Stark was expected to be above that, hence the disappointment that followed.

Well done video! I appreciate the balance and depth you give to all your videos

For me the 3 and my opinions of them are as follows. 1 - was pretty good until stark took it seriously and started killing himself, like this is supposed to be the "strongest" espada but ends up doing nothing but killing themselves, while poetic, it sucks as a battle theme. 2 - was pretty ok, did seem he liked to preech about himself. Untimely quite liked omeada and his "fight", soifon was only really interesting with her bankai, other part was just her arm had me worried the first time I saw it (I am a soifon fan) 3 - her fight with toshiro was pretty decent, that back and forth of their water and ice, seemed quite strategic, using the other person's attack as your own weapon. However that ended when lisa and hiyori got involved and the seemingly strategic fight just turned into a sword clashing fight where most of the time was hiyori and toshiro going at it before Aizen interrupted the fight.

Coz they were facing at least 3 enemies each, and none of the Espadas even significantly incapacitated one of their enemies (you could bring the argument that Starrk trashed Love and Rose, but they can still stand after and Aizen still has to clean them up)

Disappointing and underwhelming seem to be great words to describe a lot of Bleach characters. Espada 1-3, the entire Vizards, Chad, Squad 0 (manga).

We are forgetting the King Kong in the room, Yammy being revealed as the Cero Espada right before the established top 3 fought was a big screw up for them as all power progression got thrown out of the window.

The Espada definitely felt more threatening at the beginning of the arc. Yes, weaker Arrancars faced weaker Shinigami than the Top Three Espada vs the Captains/Vizards, but this slow progression felt a little bit wonky. You had Vice-Captains and Hitsugaya struggling to defeat Grimmjow's Fraccion and Luppi, but then you get to Fake Karakura Town and Kira and Hisagi are out there low-diffing Fraccions and the Captains lethargically fighting the Top Three Espada. Yes, there were major upsets like Ayon, but the threat level never felt the same as when Yami completely wrecked Chad, Orihime and (unbalanced) Ichigo, had Yoruichi injure herself on his Hierro and then Ulquiorra backhanding Kisuke's blood wave.

It always felt a case of editors telling Kubo to “wrap it up “.

I think the katakura battle matchups were just absurd. You can feel that some stuff happened just because they needed to, like wonderweiss randomly breaking hallibel out of the ice because it needed to mirror the barragan fight, or really the starkk fight as a whole

I think the reason the top 3 Espadas didn't amount tô anything is bc Kubo wanted Aizen to take down the Gotei 13 almost entirely on his own.

What went wrong to me was Ulquiorra being as strong as he was so because the other 3 being stronger than them meant the Gotei in Fake Karakura stood no chance against the 3. When Halibel released and cut Toshiro in half i was like omg its over for them if just 3 is this strong. Then next chapter you find out it was a ice clone and all the espada were nerfed to me at that point. I feel Kubo thought damn they cant be this strong i gotta change it so they can have a chance. Edit: The top 3 were robbed. If they were given the same treatment as the quincy you’d possibly see someone like Starrk erasing shinigami by being in the vicinity. I just wouldve loved to see the espada in the seritei unrestrained.

I would have liked for Starrk to be the oldest Espada with regeneration superior to Ulquiorra's second release, emphasizing his loneliness that he will outlast all those around him.

What I firmly believe when comparing the espada to the Quincy is that everything Kubo did “wrong” or that the fans didn’t like with the former, he used in perfecting the following villains. Everything Aizen and his minions were missing came in full force with Yhwach and his Sternritter. And they do quite well, though of course they do have their own unique issues that would inevitably arise from that method of writing

I think the top 3 suffered from Kubo's burnout and time constraints more than others. Halibel is a weird one for sure, and it certainly feels in hindsight that the whole ice clone thing was Kubo changing his mind on the fly. Barrigans arrogance is core to his character and that tracks all the way up to his death so I think it made sense for that to hold him back, I just wish we had a more backstory at that stage. Looking at his relationship with Aizen it's fair to suggest that he may have actually been the no.1 Espada but got stuck at 2 because Aizen thought he would hate it. Even his sealed state looking human must be humiliating for him. Starrk I think did a great job and not many others could have walked away from that fight. I think the issue with this fight is that you come away from it thinking Starrk looked weak when in reality, Kyoraku is just crazy powerful and it's only looking back from TYBW that you see thay clearly.

All the Epsada were held back by a simple fact - they did not kill a single character. In fact, Yamamoto loosing his arm was the _only lasting consequence_ of the entire Soul Society and Fake Karakura town arcs. And that was a disability he _choose_ to keep.

You brought up how the Ulquiorra fight made for some crazy expectations, and I think what everyone has to remember is that Ichigo kind of sucked for most of the Arrancar arc. That really created some strange impressions of how powerful various characters were, especially since we don't get a proper explanation for why Ichigo sucked so much until the TYBW arc.

I think the only problem is that unlike the big four of the quincy the top 3 Espada are harmed for not having set chapters of their own for their fights like if stark had a 7 chapter fight I total believe he would have been even more loved.

To be honest, Starrk is the only one of the three that I remembered pretty much nothing about after my first reading of the manga. He’s just the guy with the guns who’s there until he isn’t.

I always thought that Stark was the strongest Espada, I can understand why people think Ulquiorra is the strongest because he went all out and had the best showing of all the Espada, Stark at no point of his fight wanted it, when he was fighting against Love and Rose he was just standing still, tanking hits from Love because he doesn't care. There was for sure a lot of he could show, he didn't even used strongest Espada attacks like Gran Ray Cero, Oscuras Cero, just Usual Cero. I feel like people would have different opinion on the top 3 Espada if they had more screentime. P.S. - Shunsui vs Stark, still probably my favorite fight in the series

The biggest irony about the Espada in general is that Kubo had this overwhelming instinct to restrain himself regarding their effectiveness so he could preserve Shinigami characters and abilities, especially Bankais, for future storylines, but he had no such consideration for the Hollow characters themselves. They way he expended their lives and powers almost carelessly, making more than half of them look terrible and disappointing in the process, almost beggars belief by comparison to how he treated the Shinigami and later the Quincy. People were really engaged with the idea of Hollows being on the same level as Shinigami, enemies that could act as legitimate rivals rather than disposable monsters and potentially become allies and friends later. He basically tossed that in the trash without a care in the world. Then again, I suppose you could argue he treated the human cast and the Vaizards with similar carelessness. Despite that fact that almost ever character he ever made was instantly compelling on some level, the man clearly has a group he's more invested in than the rest.

You actually had the answer at the beginning : a weak character like rukia was able to defeat an espada . So it was easy for captains to fight them .

I feel like had Kubo made the Fake Karakura Town arc more of an all out battle rather than a 1v1 glorified tournament arc, the Top 3 Espada would've had more to do. You could've had a great time with Toshiro and the Vice Captains all fighting Harribel, Genryuusai battling Barragan as a King vs King fight. And you could've had Starrk be the last one standing and fight the entire Gotei 13 at once. All while you had the Fraccion coming in and out of fights with Captains and Vice Captains.

I feel like Barragan and Starrk could have defeated many of the captains if it wasn't for their personality, Barragan being TOO Arrogant and Starrk not having any motivation to fight after Lilinette's death.

I think the power scaling was off. We went from Hitsugaya struggling against non espadas or weak espadas, stating that if this was the strength of one then they are in trouble, to end up fighting Haribel with ease. Also i think noone ever felt like they were in danger unlike tybw.

I have to like the Baragan fight because it gave Hachi a sick W. I love the round pink man.

Barragan didn't disappoint. He lost only via hax. If he wasn't against someone with OP Kido his respira abilities could've beat a good majority of captain's.

tbf I've always thaught, just like with squad 0 manga fight, it's not that they're dissapointing themselves, it's just that the way their fights were written were dissapointing as a whole. For a smuch as I love bleach and hold it as the anime of my life, I was never content with how it was treated.

Honestly I think the Espadas should have defeated some of the shinigami, there were so many characters standing even before the arrival of the vizards, I always though the tres bestias are kinda underrated in this aspect they managed to take down most vicecaptains

Personally, Starrk, Barragan, and Harribel weren't disappointments as characters or threats, but they had disappointing ends. Starrk was hyped up as the strongest of the Espada and fought well against one of strongest captains, but Starrk wasn't strong enough to force him to use his bankai. Not to mention the disappointment of Starrk dying. Barragan definitely had such impressive abilities that the solution to beat him was overcomplicated. Along with him being yet another arrogant member of the Espada. Tier Harribel, my personal favorite, was set up to be strong, smart, and skilled, yet she wasn't able to defeat Toshiro, despite forcing him to use his bankai despite not using her resurrecion form yet. Plus, Aizen took her out because he deemed her too weak. Not to mention that despite becoming the ruler of hueco mundo, Tier Harribel was taken out early, even if it was by Yhwach, and had to spend the entirety of the thousand year blood war as a prisoner before being rescued. Ultimately, these Espada had good starts, but disappointing finishes.

With how Kubo wrote the arrancar arc and FKT arc the top 3 espada were always going to be disappointing. It’s clear that Kubo wanted the main fight and most successful arrancar to be for ichigo while the others were for the rest of the Gotei. I understand the vision but perhaps it could have been done a bit better to make things feel more satisfying!

I remember thinking that Zaraki against Noi was the perfect opportunity to see that he had learned his Zanpakuto's name. A shikai for him to win made a lot of sense to me. And they could still reserve his bankai for TYBW. Instead they rushed both in the end. Rushing what could have been done in an amazing way feels like the theme of bleach. A theme that we see with the last 3 espada as well. I didn't have a problem with Ulquiorra's fight seeming grander than the others. I took the second release to mean he was actually stronger than them, but chose to conceal it. But, besides #2, the top 3 fights really did feel like over hype and let downs. Not just with the espadas, mind you. The vaizards felt like a waste as well. More wasted opportunities to show all sides working together to take down greater powers.

The consistency of the drops! He just gave us a Shinji video. Glad I'm seeing a trend of what some of your disappointments were with the series I like taking the good with the bad.

I'm reminded of those moments in an RPG where a really epic villain has a mediocre final encounter. Similar to Seymour Omnis from Final Fantasy X if anyone's played that. He's a great character, but his final battle didn't nearly live up the the implications set up for him.

Rose and Love should have both used Bankai instesd of Ukitake. Rose's bankai would have been a good way to reveal his wolves as well

The problem is 2-fold. The hype around the Espada, and the structure of the Fake Katakura Town arc. Like you said it's high expectations, and Ulquiorra has a big role in that. -Telling Ichigo is pointless to fight since there are 3 Espada ranked above him, let alone Aizen -Ulquiorra's fight on the dome being amazing But then there's also -Characters going on and on on what an honor it is to be an Espada -The Privaron Espada trying to please Aizen to retake their ranks -Many Espada asking their opponents what is it like to see an Espada 's release state.(Aaroniero, Nnoitra) -Many Arrancar lamenting how their abilities weren't enough for Aizen to consider them Espada(Rudornn) -Grimmjow the 6th Espada destroying Bankai Ichigo with little effort with his bare hands -Aizen and Toshiro hyping up regular Vasto Lorde Hollow without Hogyoku power ups being capable of destroying the entire Gotei 13 if Aizen had 10 of them. -Even small things like Ichigo initially refusing to use his Bankai on someone who quote "wasn't _even_ an Espada."(Dordoni) -Or Renji immediately using his Bankai on Szayelaporro after finding out he's an Espada. -And Aizen even stating that The top 3 Espada and their subordinates should be enough to solo the Gotei forces that were present at Fake Katakura Kubo just put so much buildup on them, which they actually could have lived up too, but then there is the second meta problem, the fake Katakura Town arc. I honestly don't know what Kubo's plan was, but this Arc feels more of a showcase of Gotei officers that barely anyone cares about rather than an actual war. Kubo spent way too much time showing us lieutenant abilities. I'm not saying don't show them, but they did not deserve that much panel time especially when the vast majority of them are going to amount to next to nothing. (Hisagi should be a special exception to this since his relationship to Tosen is important, but even ultimately got forgotten in the final arc). When Kubo FINALLY gets to the top 3 Espada fights, it feels like he's stalling. For what I don't know. This is partly why Haribel starts going even with Toshiro, and why Starrk won't just finish up with Love and Rose until after Barragan is dead. But once Barragan dies you can tell Kubo just rushed Starks fight, and pretty much killed Haribel off with no fanfare. My guess GUESS is that Kubo needed increased reader engagement IN THAT MOMENT, and the top 3 Espada despite all the hype around them weren't going to give him that effect. So they and all of their hype were sacrificed for one of if not the best Aizen moment(s) in the series. And while solo stomping and Kyoka trolling the Gotei was great, it should not have come at the cost of the top 3 Espada's reputation. Kubo spent too much time on things that didn't matter, so when it came time to focus on the hype he made, he threw it away for something else.

The Espada lacked the kind of destructive power you'd expect from those that weren't allowed to release their zanpakutou in Las Noches Fake Karakura town should've been turned into a wasteland but the 4 pillars plotline prevented that and instead had them shooting giant attacks that hit nothing but air.

This might sounds weird . But for me, it's the pacing. Compare to Espada #9 to 5, where the fight is short and to the point, top 3 Espada fight seems to last much longer. Now I didn't do the pages count of the fight itself or anything. But that's how it feels. And for the first time in Bleach, I feel like the actual content of the chapters "decrease". Some of my friends start calling Bleach chapter "bunch of screentone on the pages". Some part of the actions feels more drag out and is drawn more. While the pace of the number of new ability reveal and fighting pace seems to also decrease.

As for Barragan- his full transformation where aside from Starrk, contrasts every Arrancar that gets a cosmetic change, a weird creature form, a brutish beast form, or a streamlined human version of their animal form; Barragan is essentially a humanoid skeleton and his powers feel more like the esoteric Quincy powers than a Hollow.

Starrk will still remain one of my favorite characters, I would have loved to have seen him live on or come back as a Mayuri zombie.

Hello! Great video and content! I believe you nailed this subject right on. I remember watching the show and after the Ulquiorra fight, especially when he did say even if you beat me there are 3 stronger than me and he did not say there are 3 ranked above me but stronger. So you get this sense of omg! What is going to happen?? How powerful will the top 3 be? Also, when Hitsuguya says that the natural Vasto Lordes are stronger than Captains it all builds them up to be these unstoppable forces especially when they are also infused with the power of the Hogyoku. So, with all this build up and hype essentially it should not have been even close. Halibel should have either killed or severely wounded Toshiro and also killed Hiyori and wounded Lisa with little effort. Halilbel didn't even get a Gran Rey Cero off. I mean what a let down there. Stark should have been able to push both Ukitake and Shunsui to Bankai at the very least. To have them fight Starrk on near level footing while Starrk released was a joke. I do like Shunsuis character but his uncanny way of survivng all those Ceros was crazy. Starrk should have wounded Rose and killed off Love. In fact if Starrk had that deathly spiritual pressure as it was told in his back story that could have been used in it as well. I will one thing that may save this is that Starrk did say that he has forgotten his original form. And with Resurreccion and Espadas they have stated that they revert to an original form and power to an extent when they release. It could stand to reason that since Starrk can not remember that he can not fully tap into his full power. Baraggan. He is my favorite character. And with that his battle and portrayal were the most disappointing. We learn how easily Aizen subjugates him. We do find out later on that Baraggan and Ikimikidomoe have legendary battles fought to a draw and yet somehow Aizen just shows him his sword he gives in? Either Baraggan has grown super complacent and has lost whatever powers he once had or Aizen was just that powerful pre-Hogyoku which I am not inclined to believe. Baraggan was watered down to give Aizen as easy win. I think Baraggan does somehow become part of the Espada only after some severe chacanery from Aizen, Tosen and Gin. And upon arrival in Karakur town and how the battle develops when Aizen in his battles with the Gotei 13 and then Urahara and ultimately Ichigo at some point during those battles he turns on Aizen. Most likely after Ichigo uses Mugetsu but possibly tries when Gin betrays Aizen. Baraggan should have easily dispatched of Soi Fon, Omeada and Hachi. When you look at this battle objectively there is no contest. He easily kills Soi Fon and Omaeda without releasing before Hachi even gets there and then proceeds to kill him off too and then decides to either fight or bide his time at this point. Baragagn could try to kill Aizen when he has been rejected by the Hogyoku . What does not make sense to me is how does all of a sudden the Hogyoku give Aizen immortalilty bit noone else? One could surmise that at least one of the Espada -Baraggan??? wanted immortality. He never said he wished for it. And Ichigo does say that more than likely that was not what was in his heart. He wanted an equal or to be nornal and that the Hogyoky does grant whatever is in the heart of those who use it. So some inconsistencies. With Ichigo using Mugetsu and the Hogyoku rejecting him and being bound by Uraharas Kido thats where Baraggan strikes killling Aizen. Barring plot armor that is lol With that all being said. Baraggan should have been even more powerful to the point where only Ichigo and Yamamoto should have been able to knock him down giaHello! Great video and content! I believe you nailed this subject right on. I remember watching the show and after the Ulquiorra fight, especially when he did say even if you beat me there are 3 stronger than me and he did not say there are 3 ranked above me but stronger. So you get this sense of omg! What is going to happen?? How powerful will the top 3 be? Also, when Hitsuguya says that the natural Vasto Lordes are stronger than Captains it all builds them up to be these unstoppable forces especially when they are also infused with the power of the Hogyoku. So, with all this build up and hype essentially it should not have been even close. Halibel should have either killed or severely wounded Toshiro and also killed Hiyori and wounded Lisa with little effort. Halilbel didn't even get a Gran Rey Cero off. I mean what a let down there. Stark should have been able to push both Ukitake and Shunsui to Bankai at the very least. To have them fight Starrk on near level footing while Starrk released was a joke. I do like Shunsuis character but his uncanny way of survivng all those Ceros was crazy. Starrk should have wounded Rose and killed off Love. In fact if Starrk had that deathly spiritual pressure as it was told in his back story that could have been used in it as well. I will one thing that may save this is that Starrk did say that he has forgotten his original form. And with Resurreccion and Espadas they have stated that they revert to an original form and power to an extent when they release. It could stand to reason that since Starrk can not remember that he can not fully tap into his full power. Baraggan. He is my favorite character. And with that his battle and portrayal were the most disappointing. We learn how easily Aizen subjugates him. We do find out later on that Baraggan and Ikimikidomoe have legendary battles fought to a draw and yet somehow Aizen just shows him his sword he gives in? Either Baraggan has grown super complacent and has lost whatever powers he once had or Aizen was just that powerful pre-Hogyoku which I am not inclined to believe. Baraggan was watered down to give Aizen as easy win. I think Baraggan does somehow become part of the Espada only after some severe chacanery from Aizen, Tosen and Gin. And upon arrival in Karakur town and how the battle develops when Aizen in his battles with the Gotei 13 and then Urahara and ultimately Ichigo at some point during those battles he turns on Aizen. Most likely after Ichigo uses Mugetsu but possibly tries when Gin betrays Aizen. Baraggan should have easily dispatched of Soi Fon, Omeada and Hachi. When you look at this battle objectively there is no contest. He easily kills Soi Fon and Omaeda without releasing before Hachi even gets there and then proceeds to kill him off too and then decides to either fight or bide his time at this point. Baragagn could try to kill Aizen when he has been rejected by the Hogyoku . What does not make sense to me is how does all of a sudden the Hogyoku give Aizen immortalilty bit noone else? One could surmise that at least one of the Espada -Baraggan??? wanted immortality. He never said he wished for it. And Ichigo does say that more than likely that was not what was in his heart. He wanted an equal or to be nornal and that the Hogyoky does grant whatever is in the heart of those who use it. So some inconsistencies. With Ichigo using Mugetsu and the Hogyoku rejecting him and being bound by Uraharas Kido thats where Baraggan strikes killling Aizen. Barring plot armor that is lol With that all being said. Baraggan should have been so powerful to the point where only Mugetsu Ichigo and Yamamoto could have stood against him.

This is also exactly what happened to Tousen. In just masked form he was owning Hisagi and Komamura. Then for no reason whatsoever, he decides to resurrect and succumbs to a simple backstab. In earlier fights with the Espadas, we see major characters Ichigo, Ishida, Chad, Renji, and Rukia almost dying. then against the big 3, everyone is more or less fine. At no point was there any build-up to one of the Shinigami dying, and the tempo was incredibly slow and repetitive. It felt like the author just wanted to get to each of the Espadas and Tousen resurrecting to show off a different form, and then quickly killing them off so we can get on to Aizen. it felt like the author needed everyone to be alive and well so that Aizen can kick more ass. The supposed comic relief of Omaeda getting chased by Barragan had been repeated in Omaeda's earlier fight with the Fraccion. Yammy suffered a similarly underwhelming fate. He was just big and talked a lot. That's it. It was such a disappointment to see how they were cast aside after building them up. It's somewhat reflective of Bleach - some big hits and some low points.

I think the problem with the top 3 Espada fights (heck, even the Yammy fight) boils down to 2 things: 1. Mr. Kubo (as much as I hate using this term) ‘wrote himself into a corner’ the moment he decided to finish the Ulquiorra fight before any of the top 3 Espada even released their Resurreccion, thus setting the bar for an Espada fight too high to top (I mean really, what can the top 3 Espadas do to possibly top a Segunda Etapa transformation?). As such, I feel like the top 3 Espadas’ fight ended up feeling like an afterthought. The only one among the top 3 Espadas who I think got any care & attention at all was the Stark fight, you can feel that Mr. Kubo wanted to do so many stuff with him, but was most likely unable to do so to the fullest due to his condition at the time, which bring me to my next point; 2. Correct me if I’m wrong but from what I heard, Mr. Kubo during the top 3 Espada fights portion of the Arrancar Saga was suffering from serious illness in the same way he did near the end of TYBW arc, which could (kinda) explain some of the last-minute writing choices he made nearing the end of Arrancar Saga

I like to think this fight did something in the whole series no one points out about Aizen: he made a mistake. The whole series, Kubo made Aizen out to be OP level fighter in control of everything and everyone, with only Yamamoto being top dog. The way he conditions the fights, the actions Ichigo and crew take to invade Hueco Mundo, to even blocking Yama's shikai flames. He's viewed as perfect throughout the series until Dengai OP Ichigo take him down. So for me, I sort of like the fact underneath the cold and calculating face Aizen puts on for the whole series, in that majority of the Hogyoku empowered Arrancar army that was suspected of taking down a weakened Gotei 13 (because of the the defected 3 Captains), the All-Powerful Aizen actually messed up and underestimated the Gotei 13 taking down the Esparda.

I think we need a Bleach anime remake, it would be amazing to get a TYBW-esque reimagining of the entire Bleach series with better pacing, a better grasp of Kubo's original story, and added story elements from Kubo himself, it would be incredibly fun to see how he would add to these fights and character dynamics, especially with prior knowledge of how the series will end.

I felt like for the top three espada, they each should have had insanely broken abilities. Barigan had that, Starkk sorta had that, but Halibel just had water. And to add insult to injury, she was put up against the guy who also could manipulate water

In my opinion, the problem with all of Arrancar Saga is the lack of consequences and how long they have stayed their welcome in the arc. I don't think people have problems with them being *weaker* than Ulqiorra but two of the tops, Barragan and Stark were defeated in such anticlimatic way with Hallibel just straight up lazy. Kubo probably writes himself into a corner as he had to make sure most cast was still good to go to fight Aizen to demonstrate how much of a threat Aizen was. I remember asking myself the first time I read Bleach years ago seeing Aizen just straight up annihilating Gotei 13 and Vizards and ask myself, "Why did Aizen need these guy again?"

I think the main reason top 3 espada were dissappinting because in case of top sternritter ( cant pronounce their name ) they just wanted to kill shingamis . But in espada case halliebel wanted people to trust and barragan wanted his throne back and starkk wanted some friends . Top sternritters were fighting to kill while espada were fighting for their own reason.

thing is i believe top 3 could do more but Starkk doesnt want to fight Barragan hates aizen Tia just wants to protect her fracciones None of them were trying to fight for aizen

Their fights were a bit dissapointing, but I was even more dissapointed that none of them were able to return in TYBW, I just know that Mayuri coulda done something, anything. Especially considering already had some zombies

Soifon never should have gotten her arm back.

Harribel and Barragan were. Starrk was defeated by a future head captain, one of the strongest characters in the Gotei. No shame in that. Harribel was clashing with Toshiro, who at this point was middle of the pack. Barragan for all the hype, fanfare, the sheer potential of his ability, didn’t have half the impact he should. When you consider base Ulquiorra was smacking away Kisuke’s Shikai attacks. Nnoitra was matching Kenpachi. To have Barragan not steamroll someone was silly. I think with Barragan Kubo wrote himself into a corner. He gave a character one of the most dangerous abilities in the verse, which had the potential to kill anyone and nullify any skill gap. Gotei medics seem to cure any kind of stab, but there wouldn’t be coming back from being reduced to ashes. So he had this broken ability that he couldn’t really use. If Kubo had the courage to allow Barragan to hype his power by melting away someone like Shinji, you suddenly have instilled a sense of dread. Instead, the second espada was beaten by Soifon and a character completely excluded from the final arc.

There is this one interesting what ifs about Starrk. Before Starrk and Lilynette came into existence they were a different being. We dont know which one of them was closer to the "original". There were many interpretations of this part where Lilynette said "you were me" or something like that. What if it really was something closer to Lilynette and consequently what if they have 2 different resurrections. In manga Starrk absorbed Lilynette and released Los Lobos. Many think it was quite underwhelming (incorrectly ofc). So maybe it is possible for Lilynette to absorb Starrk and release another resurrection, hypothetically closer to their hypothetical original form, even stronger than Los Lobos. Technically this should be possible i think, its not like she is his zanpaktou spirit, just separate being as far as we know, she had her own name from the beginning. I think that hollows power is quite underplayed in manga and abime. It's quite ridiculous to think that one of the main races wouldn't have power comparable to other ones. Ofc Starrk, Barragan etc were strong but kubo really did them dirty so possible hell arc could be also a place for redemption for them.

I believe your assessment of the top 3 Espada is on point. I think their designs are iconic but the way their fights were handled felt lackluster looking back. I feel that way especially for Haribel's fight cause she was dominating that fight up until teberone was activated. So to see her basically go from Hitsugaya needs help to Hitsugaya was holdin back felt like she was cheated out a much better fight. Compared to the elite guard I personally think with what we have to work with the Espada fall short on the same things you pointed out, but I fully believe that if they were given more time to cook during the fights, even when they inevitably were to lose their respective fights, they would look a lot better in comparison to the elite guard.

The only way I could see that Kubo could have amended the Harribel/Hitsugaya fight would be to do what he did with the Komamura/ Bambietta fight and add in an addition element to the fight. For Komamura it was his limited time and knowing he would likely not make it to Yhwach because he chose to turn back an help his comrades. In Hitsugaya's case it should be him knowing that Aizen is far stronger than he is so the more he is forced to exert himself in the fight with Harribel the far less likely he would be in getting his vengeance against Aizen. So during the early fight it would make sense if so little effort is being put into their fight with Hitsugaya trying to fight her without Bankai, but as soon as Harribel loses her subordinates she should be out for blood. To hammer this fact in she should break away from their fight to go and attack the Vice Captains, which would include Izuru, Hisagi, Rangiku, and Momo, thus forcing Hitsugaya to finally use his Bankai to save them and divert Harribel's attention back on him. They can then fight at an even level for a time until backed up by the Vizards. When Aizen does cut down Harribel he should look at Hitsugaya and tell him how he decided to step in so that he could still have enough energy left to try and get some vengeance against himself, which could at least imply Harribel may still have been able to over power them if the fight was allowed to continue on.

Kubo horrible handling Halibel went wrong.

Why did the top 3 espada fail? 1) Ulquiorra. More specifically making him seem far stronger than any other Espada by miles...because he was Ichigo's main obstacle. Had the top 3 had segunda they would've been more popular. 2) The top 3 fell in unspectacular ways. Barragan required out of the box...in the box?...thinking. Still he fell to Soi Fon and a character we didn't see much of. Stark required 2 top tier captains but they didn't need bankai and he still just didn't have the menacing presence others did for being Number 1. Harribel got handled by a mid tier captain tbh and imo had the weakest presence. 3) They simply didn't do anything. Nobody important died. Everyone knew that Aizen was the next step and after knowing he subjugated them all meant that they just weren't going to be as good as what was coming. They got sandwiched between point number 1 and one of the best villains steamrolling through the cast. They just did not have the enthralling presence required of people of their rank. 4) You made an Espada 0 and had him off screened by the 2 most popular captains which just soured everyone towards the already lackluster showdown between the top 3 and the captains lol.

The problem with the top 3 Espadas is they failed to do any REAL damage. Haribel - What damage did she actually do? Baragan - He took a few arms but nothing major Starkk - Took on 4 Captains and beat 2 of them but was merciful to not kill them. He showed Mercy but Shunsui didn’t reciprocate that to him. Meanwhile, Nemu gets killed, Shunsui was taken to the brink but got help from B.S., Grimmjow/Yourichi/Neliel/Urahara almost got crushed, and Kenpachi, Toshiro, and Byakura would EVENTUALLY lose to Gerard because he keeps getting stronger.

An easy way to make Starrk feel a lot more impressive would be to at least show him being defeated by a Bankai or having one be pivotal in his downfall. Love could have been the heavy hitter in the battle if he revealed his, perhaps after the wolves are brought out (and actually deal noticeable damage unlike the original).

I do not understand why Toshiro was able to use an ice clone technique he never uses agin even with more threatening opponents! Hallibell was curved heavily!

well the sternritter fights were more like inception type battles where they would get ressurected or imagine aizens reality alternating powers x100, so they were written to win

Honestly the top 3 Espada don't hit as hard as they could because ulquiora overshadowed them with his 2nd stage resurection. I believe that what they should have revealed is that the top 3 Espada unlike the other 7 were picked because they also processed a 2nd stage resurrection form. I also believe that the top 3 should have been the only Espada brought to the fake town and the others should have attacked the soul society directly. This would have brought more threat to the smaller scale fights and would allowed the top 3 to cut loose.

5:18- Harribel’s abilities is while lacking the raw power of Ulquorra, is more advanced as it resembles the elemental powers of Zanpakuto than anything close to a Hollow.

i had no idea about the "10 espada could takeover everything" bit. i think barragan is the only of the top 3 espada that can live up to that hype. i'd throw in secunda etapa ulquirroa in that as well. but stark and harribel do not really show the power needed to back up that claim. i'd have thought 3+ captains per opponent would be needed.

I think that problem is that the fights not only showed the Espadas but also Gotei. Because before those fights, we've never seen what Kyoraku, Shunsui, the Vizards and mostly also Toshiro can do. So if the Espada took down some of them, it would make the shinigami look too weak.

Could u pls make a video bout Ashido Kano? Im kinda curious bout this character regarding his connection with Kenpachi Kuruyashiki, we knew that in Arrancar Arc he staying in hueco mundo even after the arrancar arc ended, what happened to him during the Quincy invasion to Hueco mundo in tybw arc if he's still there staying, and did Urahara sense his Spritual pressure bcz Urahara was in hueco mundo too? (If also anyone can explain, I'd appreciate it)

I think this was a pretty perfect encapsulation of the top 3 espada. After the Ulqiorra fight as a manga reader I was ready to see the espada wipe out multiple captains and barely be defeated by the likes of Shunsui’s, Ukitake, and the vizards’ bankais. What we got was ultimately a lot of fun, but only stark ended with strong feats against anyone of note. Fun villains who I would’ve loved to see more from!

My headcanon as to why Harribel didn't seem stronger after her resurrection is that the more abilities the Resurrection provides you with, the less it increases your physical stats

Possible Death battles: Barragan vs Askin (Rot vs Poison), Starkk vs Lille(sharp shooter), Gerrod vs Grimmjaw.

How would we fix it? how we make the top 3 Espada feel more powerfull then Ulquiorra? that is a good topic for a future video

I feel like Kubo once again chickened out by not having Toshiro rightfully lose when Harribel split him in two. Its as you say in the video, there is nothing that suggests he can take her 1v1 prior to that point then all of a sudden he dog-walks her. Even in the TYBW, he claims that the difference between his Shikai and Bankai is negligible, but he goes from getting tossed around by Bazz-B and Cang Don't in Shikai, to getting disrespected by Mayuri in Bankai, to then all of a sudden his 'mature' Bankai (which came out of nowhere) turning the tides against Gerard (even if only momentarily). Nothing prior even hinted that he was anywhere near that powerful. There's just too much inconsistency with him. It feels like Kubo wants to have a realistic depiction of him but cant because of his popularity. And Harribel's depiction got lost in the waves of that friction.