Tite Kubo has created some of the most renowned antagonists in the Shonen trope. Bleach has always been a series that brought about an interesting depth to the characters, despite how bittersweet the response towards the series may be.
With the amount of care put into the creation of characters, it was almost a mystery to understand why some were expanded upon and others weren’t. There could be some who were left out because of the increasing number of characters, while others simply couldn’t get their turn. However, for Aizen, neither could be the case. It may always remain a dream for all the fans who wanted their favorite antagonist to get his own backstory.
Tite Kubo Doesn’t Like Sympathetic Villains
Aizen is regarded as one of the best villains in any shonen project, with fans holding him on a high pedestal. What makes a villain so special is their impact on the audience. Whether an antagonist is written in a book, a series, or a movie; their motivation, goals and the execution all compile together to form a better and proper villain.
In most cases, revealing the villain’s past is done so that the reader can empathize with them and feel sympathy. I’m not a fan of this trope so I don’t make use of it. All characters possess different values, but I believe that the harder it is to accept the gap between them, the greater the villain becomes.
However, in most cases, relatable villains gain more popularity and following than those that don’t. Melancholic emotions often lead to the development of sympathetic feelings. If a character has a more tragic backstory, they are more likely to gain popularity and be liked by the people than those that don’t.
While answering fans in Kubo’s Klub Outside’s Questions (via X), Tite Kubo confirmed that he never planned on revealing Aizen’s backstory because the trope of sympathizing with the villains wasn’t something he wasn’t fond of.
Tite Kubo’s Trick Worked
Usually, the better villain is one that has a story to back him. Aizen, however, is a walking enigma. Barely anything is known about him or his past and all those emotions he masks so well that others speculate over are nothing but that, speculation. He is a mysterious antagonist whose backstory isn’t something that makes him a good villain but who he is at present.
He is a powerful villain on his own without the need for sympathy to make the fans like him even more. Even his Bankai was always kept as a mystery. Were it ever revealed, more information about him would also come into the picture. None of that was ever possible. To counter the trope, Aizen was a man of many faces and illusions.
The very counter of the trope that made villains so likable also happened to work on Aizen. It was going against cliches but they are cliches because they work. This divergence helped improve Aizen’s character without having to flesh him out. Kubo didn’t want fans to like him because of his sympathy. He was a villain and he wanted the character to remain as one.
Bleach is available to watch on Hulu.
