The fact that Aizen actually gave up on the Espada immediately after Starrk died, to me speaks volumes on how much Aizen actually respected Starrk and had some actual hope that he'd turn out useful
Exactly, Stark was the closest arrancar to Azien in power & the opposite to Azien’s personality. Stark is what azien would’ve been if he didn’t let his clouded ambitions drive him into this evil narcissistic & pragmatic vision 6:55 Stark is azien if he was good.
@@daanduijkers4845 Seriously guys Stark being close to Aizen power !? .. in his private fansite Kubo is fanservicing and messing around with his fans.. Aizen feared Stark just as much he feared Zaraki or Mayuri .. After Stark's death only Halibel was left so ofc he gave up on them (he actually did her a favor by taking her out; she lived she would had died if she kept fighting) and i don't think Aizen had great hopes of the espadas in the first place, maybe to kill a captain or two.. He just used the espadas as a distraction for soul reapers, he never cared or respected any of them.
Should have said about how even aizen is wary of his original power. And now I watch this, even here, aizen only moves after stark is defeated. He might still be wary if stark will go against him if he shows his betrayal over the arrancar
@@hikariizuki1693 should have given him a all out fight and leave us in glory. Shunsui was actually the perfect opponent but he dropped his guard when he witnessed Barragan die. This war was just pointless to him as he would end up alone again
Fun fact about Starrk: In a recent Q&A a fan asked Kubo about the timing of his first meeting with Aizen. Aizen approached other Espada (like barragan) before gaining the Hogyoku, but he only approached Starrk AFTER getting it (Aizen's attire gives away the timeline). The fan wanted to know if Aizen already knew about Starrk's power and chose to not approach him until later because of it. Kubo said yes. So it's confirmed that even AIZEN was weary of him at some point.
quite honestly it's less that Aizen was any more weary of stark than he was of barragan and more so Him realizing that the two did require different strategies to be dealt with, what Aizen did with Barragan, would not have worked with Stark and what he did with Stark would not have worked with Barragan. also the fact that Aizen deemed dealing with Barragan to be more important than dealing with Stark also tells you a lot. Stark wasn't really going anywhere, so there was no hurry, aizen could approach him at his leisure, Barragan was the king of hueco mundo, if Aizen wanted to be in control there, he HAD to deal with Barragan first and foremost.
@@windhelmguard5295 the order in which things are done doesn't always indicate importance, nothing really suggest that Aizen deemed dealing with Barragan to be more important, and from what Kubo said, it did seem like Aizen wanted more power before approaching Starrk, plus we never see Starrk's true form, he never reverts back to his original form, aka the one that Aizen likely felt the spiritual pressure of, and so we don't know how strong "Starrk" was originally, because the original hallow split itself to become weaker, it was jealous of the weak, so whatever Lilynette and Starrk were originally, could have very easily been strong enough to put Aizen on edge, even before Kubo made the statement about it, you can tell just by the way Aizen talks to Stark and Lilynette that he treats them differently than the others, he doesn't tell them what to do, he talks to them calmly, almost like a friend, and simply asks if they want to join him
I didnt understand Kubos answer as "Aizen is scared of Stark power" but more like he wanted to come at him with the right approach to recrut him and the split gave him the perfect opportunity. Before the split Stark was probably too unstable, which was incompatible with the idea of recruting him in a team
@@windhelmguard5295it’s both actually. He knew how strong Stark was and how his personality was more or less unmalleable similar to his own. He knew he couldn’t easily prey on their base desires. Barr was strength & respect when he was beaten he had no choice but to bend the knee, Harribel was sacrifice/ being motherly (Azien in the anime orchestrated an attack to simultaneously put the sun sun,apache and mila rose in danger) he then saved them. Ulq was wanted to understand a world outside of nihilism Azien could easily do this for him (through Tosen or himself), Ninntora was envy & power not hard to give,Grimmjow was power but more solidly respect and the high of battle (easy to do just have something stronger put him in his place), zommari is devotion he just needed something to serve, Grantz was innovations/ torture & torment (Azien knows that intrinsically), Arraneio (evolution& greed, the hogyoku does that instantly for him) ,Yammy is just unbridled warth he similar to Grimm just wants a fight. A constant endless war. Stark though isn’t that easy yes overall he’s the strongest of the espada as he’s simultaneously a jack of all trades and a master in all trades. The problem is also he’s lonely you can’t fix loneliness with a physical replacement. Loneliness is a state of being that requires the person lonely to change out of.
Fun fact, but one of the databooks, one of the light novels (and a recent Q&A session with Kubo), all confirmed that Starrk was the only Espada Harribel was actually close to.
A fan theory I've always loved is that the original personality wasn't actually Stark but instead Lilynette, and when the split happened it was Lilynette splitting her loneliness and power away from her and that creating Stark.
@@agamotto5354 Agamotto, you missed something, too. It's small but it further drives the point home about Starrk. His Resurrección is the only one that's in plural form. Yammy's is Ira -- Spanish for "Ire," though also often given as the Spanish-language translation of the deadly sin Wrath Barraggan's is Arrogante -- Spanish for "Arrogant," pretty straightforward Harribel's is Tiburón -- Spanish for "Shark" Ulquiorra's is Murciélago -- Spanish for "Bat" Nnoitra's is Santa Teresa -- Spanish for "Saint Teresa," a common name for "Praying Mantis" Grimmjow's is Pantera -- Spanish for, you guessed it, "Panther" Zommari's is Brujería -- Spanish for "Witchcraft" Szayelaporro's is Fornicarás -- Which is the imperative tense conjugation of the Spanish word for "Fornicate" -- In other words, Szayelaporro's Zanpakuto translates to, "You WILL Fornicate!" which I always just like to point out because it's fun. And Aaroniero's is "Glotonería" -- Spanish for "Gluttony" But Starrk's? Starrk's Resurrección is "Los Lobos" -- Spanish for... "The Wolves." Plural.
The thing is lilynette is so unburdened by their past. Stark is very burdened by who he was. Of course, suppose it's totally possible she split all of her agony into her new side; but I feel like it's Stark who created an outgoing, silly compatriot from his own incredibly lonely and heavy soul.
"Could he slam dunk someone" 10/10 no notes. Also, a small detail I like during the flashback to Starrk and Aizen. In the manga specifically, Kubo doesn't use pointed word bubbles for some pages. In the "You... ...seem strong" panel, it's ambiguous which character is speaking to the other.
Starrk's defeat is actually sadder in the anime. In the anime, Lilynette is still able to talk to Starrk and does so the entire fight. When Starrk uses his wolves one of the wolves carried Lilynette and she dove in front of an attack meant for Starrk, killing her. Starrk was then defeated afterwards after not being able to hear Lilynette talk back to him anymore.
Starrk, my beloved, my favourite Espada, may you rest in peace, you deserved a friend like Shunsui Also, Kubo giving Starrk his resurection Los Lobos, for him to embody the pack he always wanted to be part of... majestic writing
Starrk remembering the Espada in his final moments was super touching. As fucked up as the crew was, it's the closest thing, other than himself, that he had for friends. AND HE EXCLUDED YAMMY FROM THE PANEL. STARRK IS A CERTIFIED YAMMY HATER. LET'S GO!
One of the best parts of Starrk's demise was what Shunsui said when Love got mad at him over sneaking Starrk to get the upper hand the way he did. He didn't deny that his actions weren't honorable, and he didn't say that they were right. He said that they were at war, and because of that, winning was all that mattered. Wars don't give you the leeway to play the honorbound hero, once you're in a war, you are evil. This mindset is the entire basis of how Soul Reapers are taught to approach battle. When an enemy is killing you ally, don't save them, kill the enemy while they're distracted. When an enemy is busy fighting someone else, stab them from behind. "Seek not aesthetics in war. Seek not virtue in death. Think not of thine own life. Should thee seek to protect thy king and the five dukes, slay all foes as indifferently as shadows of leaves" is a direct quote from the literal handbook that students of the Soul Reaper Academy get. This mindset is how the Soul Reapers are supposed to fight. Honor, virtue, and everything else is to be abandoned. The only thing that matters is winning. Your life doesn't matter as long as you win. Shunsui is the only Soul Reaper we see live up to this standard. Shunsui will do anything if it means victory, and I do mean anything.
That's one of the reasons why Kyoraku is my favorite Bleach character, and this can go back to Ukitake words at the beginning, "there are two kinds of battles, a battle to protect life and one to defend honor", since Shunsui perfectly knows that "honor will not save the world".
Yup you can the same thematic from Soi fon's advise to Omaeda while fighting barragan's fraccione and what Sasakibe did to Yhwach during flashback in anime.
People undervalue stark because he lost to a shikai shunsui, yet they dont realise that katen kyokotsu is basically a bankai level shikai, with how op the games are Theres a theory that stark could have easily dodged the final blow shunsui did to him, but he wanted to stop fighting and die because of how sad he was getting after lilynette and the other espada dying
More than that, Kyoraku has tricky abilities, and, besides monsters like Yamamoto and Aizen, he was the strongest captain there by far. Shunsui is a threat, when he get serious. I don't think about the second, yet, Starrk at that point came out of a fight after 4 captains, and Kyoraku had to play dirty twice to get him, I mean, details matter.
Most people's shikai's either control an element or do something when in contact with the blade, meanwhile Shunsui is over here with an AoE sword effect that can cause any battle he's in to gain conditional effects and restrictions like an actual game randomizer, the fact that both players need to know the rules should balance it but the fact that he can start a game and THEN explain it is what really sells it. Yeah both players might be able to benefit from the effects of the game and have the same restrictions but the one that knows all of the rules in the game they started is probably always going to win
Well, recently Kubo confirmed that Aizen avoided recruiting Stark before his split. Aizen approached Barragan way before Soul Society arc, but in Stark's case he chose to act only after obtaining the thing and original Stark's splitting. That shows how strong was pre split Stark. And Stark is also one of the confirmed natural arrancars just as our beloved nihilistic #4. I can't remember anyone else
Pre split Stark was probably as strong at the current one. I guess splitting make you weaker but he turned into an arrancar, which make you stronger. Plus, his resurreccion is pretty much him and lilinette becoming one again. All in all, strength wise, Stark/lilinette is probably on a similar scale as the original stark
@@tartopomme8946 we haven't seen pre split Stark so we can't be sure that resurreccion is on par with his pre split form. But we know that Aizen recruited Barragan way before Soul Society ark and we know that he recruited Stark after that ark (we can tell that because of the change in his hairstyle and the disappearance of his glasses). We know now that Aizen avoided recruiting pre split Stark. Why would he do so? Many people now assume that pre split Stark was at least close enough in strength to Aizen, but post split Stark weakened enough that Aizen could be confident in the outcome of his approach.
@tartopomme8946 we don't know tge exact difference in power splitting had compared to a hokyoku amp. A large part of bleach is tge soul, so u can argue starrk splitting himself into two completely seperate consciousnesses who don't even know the real starrk, nerfed his power more than the hokyoku amped it.
I love what starrk represents for hollows. His original form was probably the apex of hollow evolution, but the only reward for obtaining the strength most hollows never achieve was loneliness. Losing yourself in base instincts and insecurities naturally pushes others away and Starrk’s entire character (imo) reflects the isolation that most hollows dont have the opportunity to become aware of since every moment is a fight for survival for them
Thinking about this, it's interesting to consider that Aizen might have genuinely seen himself in Starrk, given a certain revelation that comes after Aizen's defeat. As they say, it's lonely at the top.
I'm VERY glad you caught on how Starrk definitely is the Primera Espada! A lot of people didn't seem to have noticed in both Starrk and Baraggan's backstory that one of them can have others near him while the other annihilates them just simply standing around him. I feel like it's somewhat fair to say that Aizen did care some bit about him. In Starrk's backstory, Aizen held some respect for him by acknowledging his power, like he was in awe at what Starrk can do. I loved how Aizen came alone instead of having Gin and Tosen around him, like he wanted to show Starrk his relatability in looking for companions. Just like you said, he didn't use any threats or intimidation - Just invited him, though Aizen needed to wait for that opportunity to recruit him. (Kubo confirmed Aizen knew about Starrk's existence btw) I feel like taking Harribel out was his way of letting out his frustration and disappointment over his Espada project, since they were no match for the Gotei 13. If Starrk can't do it, then there is no reason to think Harribel can. Besides, at that point, both Number 1 and 2 were done and out of the fight. What could Harribel have done on her own then? Starrk was amazing and I loved everything about him since his introduction. I did wish that Starrk and Lilynette would have survived and been friends with Shunsui and Ukitake. Them four are perfect for each other.
Taking out Harribel is also a bit like clearing the table of useless playpieces: the Hollow forces are clearly not capable of defeating the Gotei 13, so Aizen makes a cut - now it's up to Tousen, Gin, and himself. To us, this shows that we are entering a new stage in the fight, Aizen is getting serious about advancing his plot (at least making a move to help it along, given that his underlings seem to fail).
"Could he slam dunk someone?" is the type of S-tier commentary that I come to the Agamotto channel for. Loved this episode since Starrk is my favorite Espada, always nice to see respect put on the GOAT's name 💙🐺
Sadly, the death of the espadas was part of Aizen's plan. They were nothing more than pawns in his chessboard, like everyone else. Given his behavior, i think it's safe to say that Aizen is a psychopath.
Well, as Ichigo came to believe, Aizen in a way was lonely himself, even if he didn't realize it. Aizen was incapable of properly empathizing with anyone. And when he did try to show empathy (such as leaving Hinamori for dead becasue he thought that would be better for her), he just was even worse. This is also shown in his conversation with Urahara later; Aizen simply cannot _grasp_ why his intellectual equal (Urahara) does not outright agree with him and have the same motivations as himself, and it outright infuriates him.
@@edoardoprevelato6577 TBH, it makes Aizen's final words uttered in the manga even more intrigueing. *SPOILERS* Aizen actually _understands_ why he and Yhwach lost to Ichigo when even Yhwach didn't. Aizen now seems to get that their lack of empathy made them doomed to fail from the beginning.
@@Timjer92SPOILERS it think that Aizen understands emotions like a normal person understands math. He knows about them and how they work, he doesn't underestimate them (unlike Yhwach, who underestimated how much Jugo and Uryuu hate him), but he simply can't experience them.
Yep the Yammy hate coming back makes total sense to me lmao The further into the arc the less logical the twist is, only possibility is like "potential" but even that doesn't make sense when Aaroniero also has limitless potential
Aaroniero was a Gillian, makes sense for him to be the lowest one, he technically could have used all the abilities of the devoured hollows, but he didn't show off, as he just died like an idiot for a Rukia's sop. Yammi technically had no limit as more he stored energy and got angrier, but Kubo just did it for the meme, as he too treated him like a giant buffoon.
I think Aizen kind of related himself with Starrk's loneliness. Because they were powerful to be not understood by others and to feel not relatable with others.
Just a quick note to you, Mr.Agamotto: Shikai = how the wielder shows himself, like his superficial ego or how the wielder presents himself Bankai = how it is the trueself of the owner, like the most deep persona someone can have in form of a "power" See how Soi Fong presents herself and how her shikai is in contrast as how she really is and how her bankar is
As time passed, Stark slowly become my favorite Espada by a mile. His ideals and feelings is so…. Touching? And the fact he was the only one that Aizen personally recruited (aside from Harribel in the anime only scenes) is so SO fascinating. Honestly I really wished Stark lived. He’s such a rare case of a hollow that evolved to truly be better than their base instincts. His death is so tragic as well but I suppose at least he had a brief moment of companionship in his life after separating into 2 beings. But man Aizen didn’t deserve to have him. But ahhhhh you always seem to NAIL the feelings we all had when reading/watching Bleach. It’s amazing
Cruel fact In the anime they made Lillinette die before Starrk did She was gone and Starrk couldn't rely on her presence as the fight was reaching it's end
The aspects of death are important to define the Espadas on another level, and yes, Stark was such a tragic character. He was too powerful that his mere presence taxed the existence of nearby hollows, he envied the weaks as they could remain in group, he split in 2 and became naturally an Arrancar to escape from loneliness, he had no interest in fights or more power, but he felt in debt with Aizen. Starrk was the most human of the Espadas, one of the few who cared about the comrades, also "easy" to be shaken emotionally, a good guy in a group of villains. The wolves fit him perfectly, and his end was so sad, especially given that he and Shunsui would have get along in another context 😢 Yeah, the ranking is based on more factors but Reiryoku is the most important, Starrk had a lot of spiritual energy and Kubo recently confirmed that even Aizen was cautious about OG Starrk, he waited the right time to approach him, after he split in 2 🐺🐺 Like the Forest of Menos, I like to consider these expansions canon, anyway these parts show even more how Aizen is a great manipulator. We know it, he indeed is more powerful of each of them, but he hit the right buttons to have them working under him. Grimmjow and Nnoitra wanted more power, Aaroniero to be freed from suffering, Aporro to do his experiments, Zommari for ethic reasons, Ulquiorra to find a purpose, Harribel to break the chain of sacrifice, Starrk to find comrades, Aizen gave to them what they wanted. In a sense, even Barragan, he dethroned him and then used his sense of revenge to keep him close under him. Once again, the only trash one is Yammi, ZERO about him even in this sense 😂
One thing I loved about this fight was the contrast between Stark and Shunsui (my personal favorite captain) at first they seem extremly similar, both laid back, chill dudes who would prefer not to fight, however, as the fight goes on, while this seems to be proven true for Stark, Shunsui, our suposed hero in thus situation starts to look darker and darker in comparison, till the end beating Stark, who from the start wanted an honorable fight, in an underhanded way. Just hightlight themes of how there isnt always a good vs evil, sometimes someone who is legit a good person (stark) just ends up fighting on the wrong side of history.
Starrk is and will always be my favourite Espada. As a kid watching this cool gunslinger cowboy looking man with a cool eyepatch, was everything. As an adult, I truly understood just how tragic and deep a character, he(they) truly was. The added layer of how he relates to Aizen on a more intimate level than even Ulquiorra despite the few words spoken between them (Aizen and Coyote) was really good and adds a lot of depth to the character. And of course, he is the strongest! Even at his weakest lol.
Starks story remains the thing that i keep remembering out of nowhere years after watching it. Especially remembering the dub with how he starts desperately calling for lilynet thinking to himself that hes alone again. His final moments just being asking why he has to fight and his last thoughts being that he wasnt alone. Its hands down the most emotionally powerful scene from the series to me.
Starrk will always be a tragic yet still memorable character of the Bleach saga especially given his power yet refusal to let it control him, be it by being unenthusiastic or refusing to spill blood. His only wanting friends only adds to the tragic edge. At least he is remembered both within the series and especially out.
Indeed. It was heartwarming how in CFYOW, Tia remembers Starrk with fondness. The two of them being among the most compassionate Hollows, who valued their companions.
@@jrgenvellesen7800 Truth. As I've said regarding Starrk and Harribel with their respective followers it would've been better for them to have been in the company of Ichigo with his friends just as Nel did with hers. They share the same values and it fits the power of friendship that crosses usually difficult or impossible lines. Alas we can only imagine.
@@manuelacosta9463 Yes. That is part of the tragedy of Starrk. While Tia and Nel were able to survive and help build a better world for the Hollows, Starrk died before he could be a part of that. At least he found some solace in his final moments, feeling that he had a pack he could be a part of.
@@jrgenvellesen7800 It's ironic he saw the other Espada as friends. Except for Harribel they all did not share his views much less his more pacifist ideals. Still, him finding some comfort was a bittersweet moment in what is otherwise a spectacular tragedy.
@@manuelacosta9463 True. It is quite interesting to see how Aizen seemed to view Starrk compared to the other Espada. It could be that he saw a lot of himself in the lonely Hollow, and that seeing him fall, is what gave Aizen the final push to abandon his humanity. It is ironic that Aizen now is so powerful that almost no one can even be near him without dying, while we know Aizen deep down wished for an equal himself, just like Starrk did. Even his appearance in the TYBW makes him resemble the Primera more then ever...
Recently on Klub Outside Kubo kind of addressed and confirmed exactly what you took away from Aizen meeting stark. Also you saw it but didn't mention it, Stark was an arrancar before meeting Aizen. Pretty cool.
You know how Halibel cares about her fracciones as if they were her own daughters? Well, not sure if anyone has already mentioned, but Halibel’s hollow hole is where her womb should be.
It has already been mentioned here in the coments about the recent Q&A where Kubo confirmed that even Aizen was weary of Stark`s power, that`s why he only aproached him when he split and after Aizen completed his plans in the previous arc, leaving Soul Society for good. It`s also been speculated that Aizen aproached Stark alone to both highlight their similarity as powerful and lonely in Stark`s eyes and make him more simpathetic and not provoke him by puting him in an outnumbered position. AND Kubo also confirmed that Aizen was weary not only because of Stark`s raw power, but the combination of it and his unpredictability, Stark being hard to read and to predict his reactions, even for such a gifted and experienced manipulator as Aizen. He put Baragan under his illusions by showing the unsuspecting King his sword release and basicaly making himself untouchable - likely because he was careful with Baragan`s aging power, deciding not to take any chances and being sure the hollow King was too proud and overconfident to attack him before he puts him into illusions. But with Stark there was no knowing if he won`t attack the moment he percives Aizen is about to release his sworld in front of him. Also, Stark fought two of the strongest captains not counting Yamamoto at the same time and was keeping up with little effort, blitzed Shunsui the moment he got distracted for just an instant, fought another two (ex) captains, who since than got a power up in the form of masks, which they were using, also both at the same time, defeated them almost immidiately after he started to try and only went down due to Shunsui`s crazy hax abilities and after getting severely injured by a sneak attack, and even then almost killed Shunsui with wolfes explosion. As much as i love Baragan, Stark has shown he`s just a monster and clearly a worthy number one, surely whould`ve beaten everyone there exept maybe Yama if he wasn`t as outnumbered and tryed harder from the start.
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do. Two can be as bad as one. It's the loneliest number since the number one... Starrk is my favorite espada, #1 in my heart
I didnt remember how Aizen approached Starrk until after I saw a video covering it, and its pretty interesting, maybe in a way he was scared of how strong Starrk was, or at least what he was before, with how he looks its clear he only went to him after he left Soul Society. Starrk is definitely among my favorites of the Espada, very well done all around.
I have one recommendation, one of the things Kubo is really known for is his use of black and white. I don't know if you're reading the manga exclusively in color, which is definitely awesome!, but I think it might be worth taking the time to look at some of those panels in black and white.
I wish Starrk could have lived, he wasn't an evil person, and in fact was more caring than some of the captains, and I would have loved to see him stick around and maybe achieve a second release
Not all of them needed that forced evolution, Nr 9 the Kaien Shiba wannabe hollow also wasn't modified by the Hougyoku. Heck, he wasn't even an arrancar just one of Aizen's old school projects.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention Shunsui’s speech to Love and Rose, I hope you’re saving it for the next video? It’s definitely worth talking about. That is a rare glimpse into Shunsui’s beliefs and true character that is hidden behind the jovial and comedic persona he puts up.
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Yuu Yuu Hakusho mentioned! Big W! Also Starrk was one of my favourites. Such a cool character!
About Stark's spiritual pressure killing hollows, it's not a thing he specifically did, we've been shown that extreme differences in spiritual pressure damage or even kills people when Nanao passed out when Yamamoto unleashed his spiritual pressure next to her and when ishida and orihime felt like a building had been dropped on top of them when they felt Ulquiorra outside of Las Noches.
With starrk, its moreso that without trying, hes able to, not just injure ir overwhelm, but actually KILL them. Obv many of the hollows starrk killed r fodder compared to later characters in tge show, byt even putting it up against a character like barragon is impressive for starrk
Shunsui's laidback attitude makes a lot of sense when you know his zanpakutou, to which he refers as if it was an unruly child. His calm behaviour and tolerant expression is that of a parent, who cherishes nothing more than serenity and has had their patience tested by a child's whims. It's interesting that the Vizored who come to his aid don't actually win the battle. Shunsui eventually finishes the fight himself. Just as you said, he is much more dangerous than he seems at first.
Starrk died regretting the fact that he couldn't "repay" Aizen. Much like how all of Starrk's previous scenes leading up to this fight are given more meaning with the context of his backstory, his final words hold so much weight long after his death as well. I won't spoil but it's a similar theme between Kashimo and Sukuna for those who have read JJK, I'll leave it there for now.
reminder Kubo revealed Harribel's hollow hole is located at her womb, indicating she likely died during childbirth as a human. Also Szayelapporo's is located at his genitalia and Zommari's is....on his left nipple O_o
Your videos are quickly becoming the ones I look forward to the most. I'm really enjoying your perspective on and analysis of bleach. Please keep it up.
That Aizen robs us of Harribel getting more screentime is narratively interesting: it stresses the abrupt change in the course of events we're seeing. „No more playtime for you, I have to advance my plot.“ Aizen sees that the Espada cannot defeat the Gotei 13 and (literally) makes a cut: he discards the Hollow forces that had been built up as the antagonist army for the last dozen volumes, and concludes that all is up to Tousen, Gin, and him after all.
One funny thing you missed is that Starrk was an Arancarr before Aizen recruited him for the Espada, every other Espada had to be turned into Arancarrs with Hogyoku, even Baraggon. This tells us that Starrk achieved what every hollow chases after, the "ultimate power" for his species, he had so much power as hollow that he had to turn into Arrancar naturally to have the prospect of further evolution. And what did he get for becoming the honored one among the Hollows? nothing but loneliness and depression
Pay atention in one thing. Starkk didn't want to fight and took 2 hits from ex-capitain Vaizards and was 100% ok, he took it like it was nothing. He's way stronger than ppl think
And being at a disadvantage since the hollows are weaker in the human world, as we saw when Yami appears in the human world it was difficult to breathe due to the lack of spiritual particles. 😅😂
Technically he was hit only when emotionally shaken or by treachery, as he dodged everything from Kyoraku and Ukitake before. Yet it's true (and sad) that no one used bankai against him, but he's the sole Espada who faced 4 captains, one after other.
Always such a treat to see how much you're enjoying and breaking down the Arrnacar saga each week Agamotto. Also glad you saw the Harribel flashback, i was shocked when I heard it wasn't in the manga as someone who saw the anime 1st, and imo as long as "filler" exists like this in a way that doesn't contradict anything and adds to the story, it's canon to me and thats what I most care about rly. You're rly in such a GOATed stretch of the series
Light novels reveal there was another espada who was given actual zero number. I am not saying anything about that right now.👀. He is shown to be extremely powerful espada.
Damn, that was great analysis Mr Agamotto, your naration makes me tear up for our boy Stark🥹. And super long analysis video!?!? This is perfect to accompany my loneliness this weekend☺️.
About Yammy I always took that twist as Yammy being truthful in terms that he has potentially largest amount of reiatsu after releasing Ira, but he is fundamentally flawed in a way that makes him actually worse than any of the top espada. 1. he has no signature abilities, no special cero or other technique that would have him utilize it. 2. him growing with his rage actually works against him in simmilar way to ichigo's first sword, or Grand fisher's sword in essence he is not capable to focus that power in any meaningful way and while still small in released form he may be powerful and tough, but as he grows his power gets more and more dilutted untill he becomes very easy to actually hurt and get into death spiral. 3. he is incredibly dumb and impulsive which makes him very easy to trick and make him fly off the handle and cripple himself.
Spoiler In fairness he was the only one who used a Bala and he had the spiritual pressure for it to still hurt, not to mention he fired a Cero Oscuras from his mouth. In terms of his ability his growth honestly did help him a lot with the only person being shown to be able to cut him is Kenpachi (who can cut the espada with the strongest Hierro) and Byakuya's Senbonzakura kageyoshi couldn't damage Yammy's Hierro and was just bouncing off of him. Furthermore by the end of the fight it was already the end of the Arrancar Arc meaning it was a hard fought battle between Yammy and the two of them and on top of that he was able to harm Byakuya who is faster than the Espada with the fastest Sonido and when Kenpachi and Byakuya came back the Soul reapers were shocked at how badly hurt both of them were. I'd say he deserved his rank especially considering Kenpachi is such an anomaly and also the manga was rushed during this time but I don't like it.
shunsui's abilities are truly terrifying when you can twist the idea's of a game for life and death, thinking in a more western style, freeze tag would literally stop all your bodies functions maybe even your consciousness,
If they strike at specific mentioned colour, then damage will be high. There was one in which the one who is at a higher height will have their attack very powerful. When shunsui uses shadow power, then at that moment he himself is vulnerable to the same kind of shadow attack. But I don't get it how love aikawa's shikai physical damage didn't do anything to those wolves but Shunsui sword's air attack 'Bushogoma' wiped them out. They were part of Starrk's soul. That is very bad ability. He will keep getting weaker if his soul pieces keeps dying.
With regard to the additional things that start getting shown in the anime: around this time in bleach’s development Kubo was in constant back and forth with his editors because they were just trying to rush him and there was apparently so much he didn’t get to show in the manga because the anime was catching up so quickly. This is why I don’t think these scenes of Haribel were ever shown, just like the forest of the menos and tbh I think it’s also why we didn’t get a better hints of Yammy being #0 bc it seemed like an uncharacteristically random reveal for kubo. Bleach is one of my favorite stories but kubo wasn’t able to say everything he wanted bc of his editors.
I guess, yami being number 0 is because his power level is inconsistent as it is powered by anger so he sometimes can be weaker than for example number 9 or he can be stronger than number 5 that's why I think the number 0 exists for him because his mood is always different. But that's my theory I don't know if am right.
The only one to blame for starks downfall was stark himself. His lackluster motivation ruined him. And his assumption that shunui was exactly like him spelled his death. Yes, they are alike in many ways but shunsui was raised by Shigekuni Yamamoto.
yes starrks desire to be weak and lack of motivation hamstrung him sure but this guy has been an arrancar for what a few months? Even if he had been serious all Starrk would have done is forced Shunsui to use bankai anyway
5:07 appropriately peak Sixth Ranger (from the team with among best suits of Sentai/PR) for a Peak hollow. Starrk's loneliness shows just how much the Hollow evolution path can backfire on those going through it. As even through their life and death struggles to grow or at least not regress most we see in flashbacks developed some connections, gangs, lord and subjects and such, showing that want for companionship stays in a hollow. And Starrk's power took that away from him, Barragan was at least able to have his main court around him a lot and be in speaking distance of regular subjects while Ulq's loneliness was pretty much self inflicted after leaving a group who can survive his power so only 1 of the Natural Vasto Lorde Arrancar had it backfire that hard despite wanting it. So what did the OG version of Starrk and Lilynette do when they stood at the peak of the path so many hollow are on...look back and wish to be weak again within those hordes and split itself AND still wasn't weak enough to have connections with most hollows. And then within Aizen's hollow army while there is now an ability to make connections the environment barely allows new connections to be deep so 99% of relationships there are pre-established, only true exception is like Tesra and Nnitora and that involved an in love and deeply loyal subordinate, even when a chance came to fill that hole the dog eat dog part of the army still kept some distance between Starrk and his possible friends. And then on the battlefield he meets a man who in any other situation but an active war, Shunsui would be willing to be friends with a member of an enemy species if it also meant future conflicts would not occur (underhanded but light-hearted way to win), could have been his friend. A pretty sad fate for a hollow that is still so deeply human. Why alongside how cool his powerset is he stands up there in my top 3 Espada. Also I think Shunsui's ability to bring games into the fight relies on a level of age and long term relevancy within Japan (or just the East in general) to work given the games he uses so those he has a chance to fully understand normally and not just auto given, so it should actually be Baseball being brought forth instead of Basketball. An appropriate limit to one of those Zanpakuto that is in the league of "As strong as Bankai in Shikai and whose Bankai are the equiv to a spiritual nuke". Appropriately cool part of Manga to end on, of Aizen looking at the scope of his enemies and just calming stating who they are in a "bet" type situation.
Ya find out in the LN Aizen finishing off harribel is actually him sparing her and it’s intentional she becomes the new queen of Hueco Mundo along with Nel.
I'm sad to this day that Starrk didn't join the Shinigami. I know how improbable it was, but there was something inside me expecting things to turn better. It's just so sad :(
Yammi's ability is to store up his power without limit, so given enough time he could be as strong as Stark or even stronger. I don't like it either tbh but it does kinda explain why we didn't see much from him.
These videos really surprise me on how in dept it goes about each scenes and each characters ... Never looked at Stark that way, but now I have a whole other view about him.
aizen really had so much respect to starrk that he only resumed his plan exactly after his death. and it may seem that hialibel is underdeveloped (imo she is well developed, because her purpose of joining aizen was sacrificing her freedom in order to gain power to protect her girls which is also her aspect of death "sacrifice") but she still has a role in the furute
5:28 not just that the lone wolf kinda doesn't exist and if one exists they won't for long, so stark was in this "unnatural" position that he feels the wrongness of and even though all we saw of them in las noches was him being "alone together with lilinet by himself" he doesn't need to be all sticky with his comrades because knowing that they're there is sort of enough for him bc it's a big step from total isolation, (although you can make the assumption that had they all been friendlier and more like a family he would've felt even happier) so when they're confronted by losing everyone they first shut down but then even the part of stark that had initially lost all the little steam they had gets mobilized bc at the end of the day going back to complete loneliness is something all of stark loaths
The reason why Yammi is above everyone else is because the only factor for the ranking of the espada is "what is the max reastui that you have". Things like abilities, inteliggence, regeneration(ulquiorra), 2nd releases(ulquiorra), speed, etc, none of these matter so Yammi is number 0 cause initially he doesn´t have higher reatsui levels than other espadas but since his power of Rage makes it possible to infinitly increase his reastui by getting angrier than he has the potencial to surpass all of them, he just needs to be mad Stark is also a naturally born Arrancar so he´s naturally stronger, the fact he was kiling hollows around him is not just because he does have an insane amount of spiritual pressure but it´s also the fact he wasn´t controlling it as much as others. Stark was probably the last Espada to be recruited since when Aizen approches when he is already wearing his white coat and back hair. Kubo also revealed recently that Aizen was aware of the existance of the OG Stark but waited to get stronger and also him to split himself in 2 before approaching them, meaning that Stark was the only Espada to receive Aizen´s respect
So are you no longer watching the anime along with your readings? Great to hear your thoughts on the anime-only Haribel flashback, but the arc has a lot of woven in anime-only character stuff too. Stark's fight specifically is significantly different in the anime, and I found the additions they made were more poignant than the manga. Loly also had some anime-only character development that made me actually like her character, while in the manga she is just pretty straight up irredeemable. (Also, one kinda interesting point the Haribel flashback adds that I saw someone point out once, is that it adds a since of naive irony to her relationship with Aizen, where she literally meets Aizen when he cuts down one of his own minion hollows, so why is she surprised that eventually he did the same to her😂.)
Fun lil tidbit about Starrk, or rather the Hollow that would become Starrk and Lilynette. According to recent interview with Kubo, Aizen was aware of this Hollow for quite some time, but their power was so great that Aizen was actually hesitant to approach them. It was only after they divided that Aizen felt comfortable going to meet them, and even then he's pretty cautious about it. The idea that pre-division Starrk may have been comparable or possibly superior to Aizen in spirit energy is pretty dope
Around 9:56 It's not just games, its childs game, stuff like reach a certain person but you can only move when he isn't looking. He uses a lot of Japanese child games, obviously, but it's just child games, not games in general. It's not that OP... But it's pretty op if you are smart.
It's actually extremely op because it FORCES anyone to obey it's rules, but it has a huge weak point, Shunsui has to obey the rules also or pay the price.
I can never forgive Shunsui for killing Starrk. Starrk didn't wanna fight and was chill, but he was pushed by Shunsui. The most preventable death in Bleach 😭
The ranking numbers are kinda there just for some form of order, For example, Ulquiorra isn't really rank 4, Aizen DID know about what Ulquiorra could do and knew it was needed to push Ichigo to his limits, but him being ranked 4th means he would stay in Hueco and not go with them to fake Karakura town.
I really think you should come back to Stark's meeting with Aizen after you see how the Soul Society vs Aizen war pans out in the end. Given what we learn about Aizen, I think it really recontextualizes the relationship between them, much in the same way that what we learn about Stark here recontextualizes the reactions we have seen from him up to this point.
I find it super interesting how Aizen finds Starrk. Starrk is an incredibly powerful vasto lorde, yet Aizen never noticed him until after he left would society? He doesn’t recruit him with force and Stark willingly not only joined Aizen, but is also very aloof and lazy. Meaning he would never have a reason to Rebell unlike the other arrancar. I get the feeling Starrk is closer to Aizen in power than Aizen himself lets on. And the fact that it took 3 captains with sucker punches to take him out says a lot. Unlike Barragan he also never got an upgrade in power by the Hogyoku. He was a natural arrancar like Ulquiorra.
Im soo glad you enjoyed Starrk's character and everything you just mentioned and then some is exactly why he's my favorite out of all of the Espada. In other circumstances he could've been the bridge to Hollows and Soul reapers and though you say he would've gotten along well with Shunsui he and Harribel would've been great friends with Ichigo as they all deeply care for those close to them In terms of Starrk's ability they are indeed underwhelming there's no doubt there especially compared to decaying everything around you but the arsenal Starrk has is insane. Cero guns that can fire enough of them to block out the sky, Tearing his soul into wolves, manipuplating them into swords, some other things he could've shot from his gun which Shunsui was implying. It makes you wonder why does he have soo much to himself. Yammy being 0 and not killing any hollows keep in mind thats when he releases in which we never really see any hollows close by except for one but even then I'd imagine he isnt Starrk's level until he gets to a certain point. Starrk however without release was making mountains out of them. Lastly in terms of Harribel's backstory it's a bit up in the air on it's canonicity but Kubo was definitely involved in the anime during this time and had written certain scenes to it and not to mention the manga was rushed during this time as was the Ulqiora fight so it's most likely a scene that Kubo did indeed add that he wasn't able to prior.
The fact that Aizen actually gave up on the Espada immediately after Starrk died, to me speaks volumes on how much Aizen actually respected Starrk and had some actual hope that he'd turn out useful
Exactly, Stark was the closest arrancar to Azien in power & the opposite to Azien’s personality. Stark is what azien would’ve been if he didn’t let his clouded ambitions drive him into this evil narcissistic & pragmatic vision 6:55 Stark is azien if he was good.
Kubo actually revealed on his private fansite that Aizen FEARED Starkk and Lilinette's original form!
@@daanduijkers4845 Seriously guys Stark being close to Aizen power !? .. in his private fansite Kubo is fanservicing and messing around with his fans.. Aizen feared Stark just as much he feared Zaraki or Mayuri .. After Stark's death only Halibel was left so ofc he gave up on them (he actually did her a favor by taking her out; she lived she would had died if she kept fighting) and i don't think Aizen had great hopes of the espadas in the first place, maybe to kill a captain or two.. He just used the espadas as a distraction for soul reapers, he never cared or respected any of them.
@daanduijkers4845 He did not fear Stark, he was mindful of him.
@@NorthAyase he did though being weary of something means you’re worried about an outcome
The real tragedy is that Kubo only recently confirmed Starrk to have undoubtedly been number 1 of the espada
Should have said about how even aizen is wary of his original power.
And now I watch this, even here, aizen only moves after stark is defeated. He might still be wary if stark will go against him if he shows his betrayal over the arrancar
@@hikariizuki1693 should have given him a all out fight and leave us in glory. Shunsui was actually the perfect opponent but he dropped his guard when he witnessed Barragan die.
This war was just pointless to him as he would end up alone again
Yammy is stronger than Starrk though just cause of his growth. But Starrk is also a beast
@@Grayson-Winchester yeah true, but that kinda happen to all top three espada. Baragan got lucky that he got a decent fight
@@Grayson-Winchester Giving him an all out fight wouldn't make sense for the character.
Fun fact about Starrk: In a recent Q&A a fan asked Kubo about the timing of his first meeting with Aizen. Aizen approached other Espada (like barragan) before gaining the Hogyoku, but he only approached Starrk AFTER getting it (Aizen's attire gives away the timeline). The fan wanted to know if Aizen already knew about Starrk's power and chose to not approach him until later because of it. Kubo said yes. So it's confirmed that even AIZEN was weary of him at some point.
quite honestly it's less that Aizen was any more weary of stark than he was of barragan and more so Him realizing that the two did require different strategies to be dealt with, what Aizen did with Barragan, would not have worked with Stark and what he did with Stark would not have worked with Barragan.
also the fact that Aizen deemed dealing with Barragan to be more important than dealing with Stark also tells you a lot. Stark wasn't really going anywhere, so there was no hurry, aizen could approach him at his leisure, Barragan was the king of hueco mundo, if Aizen wanted to be in control there, he HAD to deal with Barragan first and foremost.
@@windhelmguard5295 the order in which things are done doesn't always indicate importance, nothing really suggest that Aizen deemed dealing with Barragan to be more important, and from what Kubo said, it did seem like Aizen wanted more power before approaching Starrk, plus we never see Starrk's true form, he never reverts back to his original form, aka the one that Aizen likely felt the spiritual pressure of, and so we don't know how strong "Starrk" was originally, because the original hallow split itself to become weaker, it was jealous of the weak, so whatever Lilynette and Starrk were originally, could have very easily been strong enough to put Aizen on edge, even before Kubo made the statement about it, you can tell just by the way Aizen talks to Stark and Lilynette that he treats them differently than the others, he doesn't tell them what to do, he talks to them calmly, almost like a friend, and simply asks if they want to join him
I didnt understand Kubos answer as "Aizen is scared of Stark power" but more like he wanted to come at him with the right approach to recrut him and the split gave him the perfect opportunity.
Before the split Stark was probably too unstable, which was incompatible with the idea of recruting him in a team
I do like that barragán got deranked which is more disrespectful than giving him number 2 from the get go
@@windhelmguard5295it’s both actually. He knew how strong Stark was and how his personality was more or less unmalleable similar to his own. He knew he couldn’t easily prey on their base desires. Barr was strength & respect when he was beaten he had no choice but to bend the knee, Harribel was sacrifice/ being motherly (Azien in the anime orchestrated an attack to simultaneously put the sun sun,apache and mila rose in danger) he then saved them. Ulq was wanted to understand a world outside of nihilism Azien could easily do this for him (through Tosen or himself), Ninntora was envy & power not hard to give,Grimmjow was power but more solidly respect and the high of battle (easy to do just have something stronger put him in his place), zommari is devotion he just needed something to serve, Grantz was innovations/ torture & torment (Azien knows that intrinsically), Arraneio (evolution& greed, the hogyoku does that instantly for him) ,Yammy is just unbridled warth he similar to Grimm just wants a fight. A constant endless war. Stark though isn’t that easy yes overall he’s the strongest of the espada as he’s simultaneously a jack of all trades and a master in all trades. The problem is also he’s lonely you can’t fix loneliness with a physical replacement. Loneliness is a state of being that requires the person lonely to change out of.
Starrk is the loneliest hollow, it’s a Tragedy and I love it. Starrk is one of the best examples of Kubo’s ability to write amazing characters
Bro wake up, another agamotto video
Fun fact, but one of the databooks, one of the light novels (and a recent Q&A session with Kubo), all confirmed that Starrk was the only Espada Harribel was actually close to.
A fan theory I've always loved is that the original personality wasn't actually Stark but instead Lilynette, and when the split happened it was Lilynette splitting her loneliness and power away from her and that creating Stark.
Ooo I love that possibility
@@agamotto5354 Agamotto, you missed something, too. It's small but it further drives the point home about Starrk. His Resurrección is the only one that's in plural form.
Yammy's is Ira -- Spanish for "Ire," though also often given as the Spanish-language translation of the deadly sin Wrath
Barraggan's is Arrogante -- Spanish for "Arrogant," pretty straightforward
Harribel's is Tiburón -- Spanish for "Shark"
Ulquiorra's is Murciélago -- Spanish for "Bat"
Nnoitra's is Santa Teresa -- Spanish for "Saint Teresa," a common name for "Praying Mantis"
Grimmjow's is Pantera -- Spanish for, you guessed it, "Panther"
Zommari's is Brujería -- Spanish for "Witchcraft"
Szayelaporro's is Fornicarás -- Which is the imperative tense conjugation of the Spanish word for "Fornicate" -- In other words, Szayelaporro's Zanpakuto translates to, "You WILL Fornicate!" which I always just like to point out because it's fun.
And Aaroniero's is "Glotonería" -- Spanish for "Gluttony"
But Starrk's? Starrk's Resurrección is "Los Lobos" -- Spanish for... "The Wolves." Plural.
The thing is lilynette is so unburdened by their past. Stark is very burdened by who he was.
Of course, suppose it's totally possible she split all of her agony into her new side; but I feel like it's Stark who created an outgoing, silly compatriot from his own incredibly lonely and heavy soul.
Considering it’s canon we never saw the original starrk it could definitely be true either way
"Could he slam dunk someone"
10/10 no notes.
Also, a small detail I like during the flashback to Starrk and Aizen. In the manga specifically, Kubo doesn't use pointed word bubbles for some pages. In the "You... ...seem strong" panel, it's ambiguous which character is speaking to the other.
Starrk's defeat is actually sadder in the anime. In the anime, Lilynette is still able to talk to Starrk and does so the entire fight. When Starrk uses his wolves one of the wolves carried Lilynette and she dove in front of an attack meant for Starrk, killing her. Starrk was then defeated afterwards after not being able to hear Lilynette talk back to him anymore.
Starrk, my beloved, my favourite Espada, may you rest in peace, you deserved a friend like Shunsui
Also, Kubo giving Starrk his resurection Los Lobos, for him to embody the pack he always wanted to be part of... majestic writing
Starrk remembering the Espada in his final moments was super touching. As fucked up as the crew was, it's the closest thing, other than himself, that he had for friends.
AND HE EXCLUDED YAMMY FROM THE PANEL. STARRK IS A CERTIFIED YAMMY HATER. LET'S GO!
Not gonna lie, I was kinda hoping for Agamotto to point that out when I noticed it xD
One of the best parts of Starrk's demise was what Shunsui said when Love got mad at him over sneaking Starrk to get the upper hand the way he did.
He didn't deny that his actions weren't honorable, and he didn't say that they were right. He said that they were at war, and because of that, winning was all that mattered. Wars don't give you the leeway to play the honorbound hero, once you're in a war, you are evil. This mindset is the entire basis of how Soul Reapers are taught to approach battle. When an enemy is killing you ally, don't save them, kill the enemy while they're distracted. When an enemy is busy fighting someone else, stab them from behind.
"Seek not aesthetics in war. Seek not virtue in death. Think not of thine own life. Should thee seek to protect thy king and the five dukes, slay all foes as indifferently as shadows of leaves" is a direct quote from the literal handbook that students of the Soul Reaper Academy get. This mindset is how the Soul Reapers are supposed to fight. Honor, virtue, and everything else is to be abandoned. The only thing that matters is winning. Your life doesn't matter as long as you win. Shunsui is the only Soul Reaper we see live up to this standard. Shunsui will do anything if it means victory, and I do mean anything.
That's one of the reasons why Kyoraku is my favorite Bleach character, and this can go back to Ukitake words at the beginning, "there are two kinds of battles, a battle to protect life and one to defend honor", since Shunsui perfectly knows that "honor will not save the world".
Yup you can the same thematic from Soi fon's advise to Omaeda while fighting barragan's fraccione and what Sasakibe did to Yhwach during flashback in anime.
People undervalue stark because he lost to a shikai shunsui, yet they dont realise that katen kyokotsu is basically a bankai level shikai, with how op the games are
Theres a theory that stark could have easily dodged the final blow shunsui did to him, but he wanted to stop fighting and die because of how sad he was getting after lilynette and the other espada dying
More than that, Kyoraku has tricky abilities, and, besides monsters like Yamamoto and Aizen, he was the strongest captain there by far. Shunsui is a threat, when he get serious.
I don't think about the second, yet, Starrk at that point came out of a fight after 4 captains, and Kyoraku had to play dirty twice to get him, I mean, details matter.
Most people's shikai's either control an element or do something when in contact with the blade, meanwhile Shunsui is over here with an AoE sword effect that can cause any battle he's in to gain conditional effects and restrictions like an actual game randomizer, the fact that both players need to know the rules should balance it but the fact that he can start a game and THEN explain it is what really sells it. Yeah both players might be able to benefit from the effects of the game and have the same restrictions but the one that knows all of the rules in the game they started is probably always going to win
I believe the Harribel flashback is from one of the databooks having a mini story .
Well, recently Kubo confirmed that Aizen avoided recruiting Stark before his split. Aizen approached Barragan way before Soul Society arc, but in Stark's case he chose to act only after obtaining the thing and original Stark's splitting.
That shows how strong was pre split Stark.
And Stark is also one of the confirmed natural arrancars just as our beloved nihilistic #4. I can't remember anyone else
Pre split Stark was probably as strong at the current one.
I guess splitting make you weaker but he turned into an arrancar, which make you stronger. Plus, his resurreccion is pretty much him and lilinette becoming one again. All in all, strength wise, Stark/lilinette is probably on a similar scale as the original stark
@@tartopomme8946 we haven't seen pre split Stark so we can't be sure that resurreccion is on par with his pre split form. But we know that Aizen recruited Barragan way before Soul Society ark and we know that he recruited Stark after that ark (we can tell that because of the change in his hairstyle and the disappearance of his glasses). We know now that Aizen avoided recruiting pre split Stark. Why would he do so? Many people now assume that pre split Stark was at least close enough in strength to Aizen, but post split Stark weakened enough that Aizen could be confident in the outcome of his approach.
Do we know how cien scales in this?
@tartopomme8946 we don't know tge exact difference in power splitting had compared to a hokyoku amp. A large part of bleach is tge soul, so u can argue starrk splitting himself into two completely seperate consciousnesses who don't even know the real starrk, nerfed his power more than the hokyoku amped it.
I love what starrk represents for hollows. His original form was probably the apex of hollow evolution, but the only reward for obtaining the strength most hollows never achieve was loneliness. Losing yourself in base instincts and insecurities naturally pushes others away and Starrk’s entire character (imo) reflects the isolation that most hollows dont have the opportunity to become aware of since every moment is a fight for survival for them
Thinking about this, it's interesting to consider that Aizen might have genuinely seen himself in Starrk, given a certain revelation that comes after Aizen's defeat. As they say, it's lonely at the top.
You could even say he was the most "hollow" of all.
@@urtoryu_dy_althraidn That could go for Ulquiorra at one point
I'm VERY glad you caught on how Starrk definitely is the Primera Espada! A lot of people didn't seem to have noticed in both Starrk and Baraggan's backstory that one of them can have others near him while the other annihilates them just simply standing around him.
I feel like it's somewhat fair to say that Aizen did care some bit about him. In Starrk's backstory, Aizen held some respect for him by acknowledging his power, like he was in awe at what Starrk can do. I loved how Aizen came alone instead of having Gin and Tosen around him, like he wanted to show Starrk his relatability in looking for companions. Just like you said, he didn't use any threats or intimidation - Just invited him, though Aizen needed to wait for that opportunity to recruit him. (Kubo confirmed Aizen knew about Starrk's existence btw)
I feel like taking Harribel out was his way of letting out his frustration and disappointment over his Espada project, since they were no match for the Gotei 13. If Starrk can't do it, then there is no reason to think Harribel can. Besides, at that point, both Number 1 and 2 were done and out of the fight. What could Harribel have done on her own then?
Starrk was amazing and I loved everything about him since his introduction. I did wish that Starrk and Lilynette would have survived and been friends with Shunsui and Ukitake. Them four are perfect for each other.
Taking out Harribel is also a bit like clearing the table of useless playpieces: the Hollow forces are clearly not capable of defeating the Gotei 13, so Aizen makes a cut - now it's up to Tousen, Gin, and himself.
To us, this shows that we are entering a new stage in the fight, Aizen is getting serious about advancing his plot (at least making a move to help it along, given that his underlings seem to fail).
"Could he slam dunk someone?" is the type of S-tier commentary that I come to the Agamotto channel for.
Loved this episode since Starrk is my favorite Espada, always nice to see respect put on the GOAT's name 💙🐺
Sadly, the death of the espadas was part of Aizen's plan. They were nothing more than pawns in his chessboard, like everyone else.
Given his behavior, i think it's safe to say that Aizen is a psychopath.
Well, as Ichigo came to believe, Aizen in a way was lonely himself, even if he didn't realize it. Aizen was incapable of properly empathizing with anyone. And when he did try to show empathy (such as leaving Hinamori for dead becasue he thought that would be better for her), he just was even worse.
This is also shown in his conversation with Urahara later; Aizen simply cannot _grasp_ why his intellectual equal (Urahara) does not outright agree with him and have the same motivations as himself, and it outright infuriates him.
@@Timjer92 which is why i believe Aizen is clinically insane. Even when he seems to show emotion or to care, it's just a meticolously crafted illusion
@@edoardoprevelato6577 TBH, it makes Aizen's final words uttered in the manga even more intrigueing.
*SPOILERS*
Aizen actually _understands_ why he and Yhwach lost to Ichigo when even Yhwach didn't. Aizen now seems to get that their lack of empathy made them doomed to fail from the beginning.
@@Timjer92SPOILERS
it think that Aizen understands emotions like a normal person understands math. He knows about them and how they work, he doesn't underestimate them (unlike Yhwach, who underestimated how much Jugo and Uryuu hate him), but he simply can't experience them.
Yep the Yammy hate coming back makes total sense to me lmao
The further into the arc the less logical the twist is, only possibility is like "potential" but even that doesn't make sense when Aaroniero also has limitless potential
Aaroniero was a Gillian, makes sense for him to be the lowest one, he technically could have used all the abilities of the devoured hollows, but he didn't show off, as he just died like an idiot for a Rukia's sop.
Yammi technically had no limit as more he stored energy and got angrier, but Kubo just did it for the meme, as he too treated him like a giant buffoon.
I think Aizen kind of related himself with Starrk's loneliness. Because they were powerful to be not understood by others and to feel not relatable with others.
Just a quick note to you, Mr.Agamotto:
Shikai = how the wielder shows himself, like his superficial ego or how the wielder presents himself
Bankai = how it is the trueself of the owner, like the most deep persona someone can have in form of a "power"
See how Soi Fong presents herself and how her shikai is in contrast as how she really is and how her bankar is
Was that ever confirmed by Kubo or was that a fan theory
@@whatdavodid lul it's in the name dude. Ok, now I'm curious, just to understand it deeply, which character it doesn't apply? Just asking for real
@@dakotadoyle7573This was recently confirmed on Klub Outside in a QNA
@@whatdavodidIt's not a fan theory, this is almost directly taken from Kubo's answer on klub outside
As time passed, Stark slowly become my favorite Espada by a mile. His ideals and feelings is so…. Touching? And the fact he was the only one that Aizen personally recruited (aside from Harribel in the anime only scenes) is so SO fascinating.
Honestly I really wished Stark lived. He’s such a rare case of a hollow that evolved to truly be better than their base instincts. His death is so tragic as well but I suppose at least he had a brief moment of companionship in his life after separating into 2 beings. But man Aizen didn’t deserve to have him.
But ahhhhh you always seem to NAIL the feelings we all had when reading/watching Bleach. It’s amazing
Cruel fact
In the anime they made Lillinette die before Starrk did
She was gone and Starrk couldn't rely on her presence as the fight was reaching it's end
Unlike censorship that's quite a major change, and despite not being as graphic it's very disturbing
The aspects of death are important to define the Espadas on another level, and yes, Stark was such a tragic character. He was too powerful that his mere presence taxed the existence of nearby hollows, he envied the weaks as they could remain in group, he split in 2 and became naturally an Arrancar to escape from loneliness, he had no interest in fights or more power, but he felt in debt with Aizen. Starrk was the most human of the Espadas, one of the few who cared about the comrades, also "easy" to be shaken emotionally, a good guy in a group of villains. The wolves fit him perfectly, and his end was so sad, especially given that he and Shunsui would have get along in another context 😢
Yeah, the ranking is based on more factors but Reiryoku is the most important, Starrk had a lot of spiritual energy and Kubo recently confirmed that even Aizen was cautious about OG Starrk, he waited the right time to approach him, after he split in 2 🐺🐺
Like the Forest of Menos, I like to consider these expansions canon, anyway these parts show even more how Aizen is a great manipulator. We know it, he indeed is more powerful of each of them, but he hit the right buttons to have them working under him. Grimmjow and Nnoitra wanted more power, Aaroniero to be freed from suffering, Aporro to do his experiments, Zommari for ethic reasons, Ulquiorra to find a purpose, Harribel to break the chain of sacrifice, Starrk to find comrades, Aizen gave to them what they wanted. In a sense, even Barragan, he dethroned him and then used his sense of revenge to keep him close under him. Once again, the only trash one is Yammi, ZERO about him even in this sense 😂
One thing I loved about this fight was the contrast between Stark and Shunsui (my personal favorite captain) at first they seem extremly similar, both laid back, chill dudes who would prefer not to fight, however, as the fight goes on, while this seems to be proven true for Stark, Shunsui, our suposed hero in thus situation starts to look darker and darker in comparison, till the end beating Stark, who from the start wanted an honorable fight, in an underhanded way. Just hightlight themes of how there isnt always a good vs evil, sometimes someone who is legit a good person (stark) just ends up fighting on the wrong side of history.
Harribel's backstory is anime director's interpretation of Kubo's words. Overall it is canon, but not in all the details.
Starrk is and will always be my favourite Espada.
As a kid watching this cool gunslinger cowboy looking man with a cool eyepatch, was everything.
As an adult, I truly understood just how tragic and deep a character, he(they) truly was.
The added layer of how he relates to Aizen on a more intimate level than even Ulquiorra despite the few words spoken between them (Aizen and Coyote) was really good and adds a lot of depth to the character.
And of course, he is the strongest! Even at his weakest lol.
Starks story remains the thing that i keep remembering out of nowhere years after watching it. Especially remembering the dub with how he starts desperately calling for lilynet thinking to himself that hes alone again. His final moments just being asking why he has to fight and his last thoughts being that he wasnt alone.
Its hands down the most emotionally powerful scene from the series to me.
Starrk will always be a tragic yet still memorable character of the Bleach saga especially given his power yet refusal to let it control him, be it by being unenthusiastic or refusing to spill blood. His only wanting friends only adds to the tragic edge. At least he is remembered both within the series and especially out.
Indeed. It was heartwarming how in CFYOW, Tia remembers Starrk with fondness. The two of them being among the most compassionate Hollows, who valued their companions.
@@jrgenvellesen7800 Truth. As I've said regarding Starrk and Harribel with their respective followers it would've been better for them to have been in the company of Ichigo with his friends just as Nel did with hers. They share the same values and it fits the power of friendship that crosses usually difficult or impossible lines. Alas we can only imagine.
@@manuelacosta9463 Yes. That is part of the tragedy of Starrk. While Tia and Nel were able to survive and help build a better world for the Hollows, Starrk died before he could be a part of that. At least he found some solace in his final moments, feeling that he had a pack he could be a part of.
@@jrgenvellesen7800 It's ironic he saw the other Espada as friends. Except for Harribel they all did not share his views much less his more pacifist ideals. Still, him finding some comfort was a bittersweet moment in what is otherwise a spectacular tragedy.
@@manuelacosta9463 True. It is quite interesting to see how Aizen seemed to view Starrk compared to the other Espada. It could be that he saw a lot of himself in the lonely Hollow, and that seeing him fall, is what gave Aizen the final push to abandon his humanity. It is ironic that Aizen now is so powerful that almost no one can even be near him without dying, while we know Aizen deep down wished for an equal himself, just like Starrk did. Even his appearance in the TYBW makes him resemble the Primera more then ever...
Recently on Klub Outside Kubo kind of addressed and confirmed exactly what you took away from Aizen meeting stark.
Also you saw it but didn't mention it, Stark was an arrancar before meeting Aizen. Pretty cool.
You know how Halibel cares about her fracciones as if they were her own daughters? Well, not sure if anyone has already mentioned, but Halibel’s hollow hole is where her womb should be.
Starrk is an amazing character with such a fantastic design.
It has already been mentioned here in the coments about the recent Q&A where Kubo confirmed that even Aizen was weary of Stark`s power, that`s why he only aproached him when he split and after Aizen completed his plans in the previous arc, leaving Soul Society for good. It`s also been speculated that Aizen aproached Stark alone to both highlight their similarity as powerful and lonely in Stark`s eyes and make him more simpathetic and not provoke him by puting him in an outnumbered position. AND Kubo also confirmed that Aizen was weary not only because of Stark`s raw power, but the combination of it and his unpredictability, Stark being hard to read and to predict his reactions, even for such a gifted and experienced manipulator as Aizen. He put Baragan under his illusions by showing the unsuspecting King his sword release and basicaly making himself untouchable - likely because he was careful with Baragan`s aging power, deciding not to take any chances and being sure the hollow King was too proud and overconfident to attack him before he puts him into illusions. But with Stark there was no knowing if he won`t attack the moment he percives Aizen is about to release his sworld in front of him. Also, Stark fought two of the strongest captains not counting Yamamoto at the same time and was keeping up with little effort, blitzed Shunsui the moment he got distracted for just an instant, fought another two (ex) captains, who since than got a power up in the form of masks, which they were using, also both at the same time, defeated them almost immidiately after he started to try and only went down due to Shunsui`s crazy hax abilities and after getting severely injured by a sneak attack, and even then almost killed Shunsui with wolfes explosion. As much as i love Baragan, Stark has shown he`s just a monster and clearly a worthy number one, surely whould`ve beaten everyone there exept maybe Yama if he wasn`t as outnumbered and tryed harder from the start.
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do. Two can be as bad as one. It's the loneliest number since the number one...
Starrk is my favorite espada, #1 in my heart
I didnt remember how Aizen approached Starrk until after I saw a video covering it, and its pretty interesting, maybe in a way he was scared of how strong Starrk was, or at least what he was before, with how he looks its clear he only went to him after he left Soul Society. Starrk is definitely among my favorites of the Espada, very well done all around.
Bingo, was confirmed by kubo recently
I have one recommendation, one of the things Kubo is really known for is his use of black and white. I don't know if you're reading the manga exclusively in color, which is definitely awesome!, but I think it might be worth taking the time to look at some of those panels in black and white.
It's a shame so many people read the series in color instead of the intended inks.
He’s said he reads it first in black and white and then rereads it in color.
Kubos black and white needs to be studied
It's good
This is why Staark was always my favourite espada. He’s just so unique both in his powers and story. I’m gutted that he didn’t survive longer.
I wish Starrk could have lived, he wasn't an evil person, and in fact was more caring than some of the captains, and I would have loved to see him stick around and maybe achieve a second release
Seems Stark didn't even need the Hougyoku to gain his current appearance and most human form
Him and Ulquiorra are just different than the rest apparently.
Not all of them needed that forced evolution, Nr 9 the Kaien Shiba wannabe hollow also wasn't modified by the Hougyoku. Heck, he wasn't even an arrancar just one of Aizen's old school projects.
@@YamiV4 All the Espada are Arrancar and given some improvements by the Hogyoku as even Barragan claims to have been given power by Aizen.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention Shunsui’s speech to Love and Rose, I hope you’re saving it for the next video? It’s definitely worth talking about. That is a rare glimpse into Shunsui’s beliefs and true character that is hidden behind the jovial and comedic persona he puts up.
Yuu Yuu Hakusho mentioned! Big W!
Also Starrk was one of my favourites. Such a cool character!
About Stark's spiritual pressure killing hollows, it's not a thing he specifically did, we've been shown that extreme differences in spiritual pressure damage or even kills people when Nanao passed out when Yamamoto unleashed his spiritual pressure next to her and when ishida and orihime felt like a building had been dropped on top of them when they felt Ulquiorra outside of Las Noches.
With starrk, its moreso that without trying, hes able to, not just injure ir overwhelm, but actually KILL them. Obv many of the hollows starrk killed r fodder compared to later characters in tge show, byt even putting it up against a character like barragon is impressive for starrk
Shunsui's laidback attitude makes a lot of sense when you know his zanpakutou, to which he refers as if it was an unruly child.
His calm behaviour and tolerant expression is that of a parent, who cherishes nothing more than serenity and has had their patience tested by a child's whims.
It's interesting that the Vizored who come to his aid don't actually win the battle.
Shunsui eventually finishes the fight himself.
Just as you said, he is much more dangerous than he seems at first.
Starrk died regretting the fact that he couldn't "repay" Aizen.
Much like how all of Starrk's previous scenes leading up to this fight are given more meaning with the context of his backstory, his final words hold so much weight long after his death as well.
I won't spoil but it's a similar theme between Kashimo and Sukuna for those who have read JJK, I'll leave it there for now.
perfect way to start the weekend! Thanks for another awesome review Agamotto!
reminder Kubo revealed Harribel's hollow hole is located at her womb, indicating she likely died during childbirth as a human. Also Szayelapporo's is located at his genitalia and Zommari's is....on his left nipple O_o
You should look up some of Kubos answers about the Espadas
Finally! My favorite espada
Your videos are quickly becoming the ones I look forward to the most. I'm really enjoying your perspective on and analysis of bleach. Please keep it up.
Starrk's death still has me sad
That Aizen robs us of Harribel getting more screentime is narratively interesting: it stresses the abrupt change in the course of events we're seeing.
„No more playtime for you, I have to advance my plot.“
Aizen sees that the Espada cannot defeat the Gotei 13 and (literally) makes a cut: he discards the Hollow forces that had been built up as the antagonist army for the last dozen volumes, and concludes that all is up to Tousen, Gin, and him after all.
One funny thing you missed is that Starrk was an Arancarr before Aizen recruited him for the Espada, every other Espada had to be turned into Arancarrs with Hogyoku, even Baraggon. This tells us that Starrk achieved what every hollow chases after, the "ultimate power" for his species, he had so much power as hollow that he had to turn into Arrancar naturally to have the prospect of further evolution.
And what did he get for becoming the honored one among the Hollows? nothing but loneliness and depression
Pay attention this will be on the test.
Shikamaru and Moria: shadows being main ability
Shunsui: shadows are just one of absolutely limitless scenarios and games
Pay atention in one thing. Starkk didn't want to fight and took 2 hits from ex-capitain Vaizards and was 100% ok, he took it like it was nothing. He's way stronger than ppl think
And being at a disadvantage since the hollows are weaker in the human world, as we saw when Yami appears in the human world it was difficult to breathe due to the lack of spiritual particles. 😅😂
Technically he was hit only when emotionally shaken or by treachery, as he dodged everything from Kyoraku and Ukitake before. Yet it's true (and sad) that no one used bankai against him, but he's the sole Espada who faced 4 captains, one after other.
Always such a treat to see how much you're enjoying and breaking down the Arrnacar saga each week Agamotto. Also glad you saw the Harribel flashback, i was shocked when I heard it wasn't in the manga as someone who saw the anime 1st, and imo as long as "filler" exists like this in a way that doesn't contradict anything and adds to the story, it's canon to me and thats what I most care about rly. You're rly in such a GOATed stretch of the series
13:42 just forget about Yammy 😂😂😂
Pretty sure the harribel filler is Kubo adding extra info when he has some free time in the anime
I love Starrk so much. Thank you for such a beautiful video and understanding him in such a deep level. This seriously made my day.
Starrk honestly deserves so many hugs and head pats. The dude just wanted friends!!! 😭
Light novels reveal there was another espada who was given actual zero number. I am not saying anything about that right now.👀. He is shown to be extremely powerful espada.
Isn't implied that the Privaron Espada's rank is just 100 + what their former Espada rank was?
Damn, that was great analysis Mr Agamotto, your naration makes me tear up for our boy Stark🥹. And super long analysis video!?!? This is perfect to accompany my loneliness this weekend☺️.
Starrk is a wonderful character. His story is tragic, but that is part of what makes him so compelling. The Lone Wolf who wished for a Pack…
About Yammy I always took that twist as Yammy being truthful in terms that he has potentially largest amount of reiatsu after releasing Ira, but he is fundamentally flawed in a way that makes him actually worse than any of the top espada.
1. he has no signature abilities, no special cero or other technique that would have him utilize it.
2. him growing with his rage actually works against him in simmilar way to ichigo's first sword, or Grand fisher's sword in essence he is not capable to focus that power in any meaningful way and while still small in released form he may be powerful and tough, but as he grows his power gets more and more dilutted untill he becomes very easy to actually hurt and get into death spiral.
3. he is incredibly dumb and impulsive which makes him very easy to trick and make him fly off the handle and cripple himself.
Spoiler
In fairness he was the only one who used a Bala and he had the spiritual pressure for it to still hurt, not to mention he fired a Cero Oscuras from his mouth.
In terms of his ability his growth honestly did help him a lot with the only person being shown to be able to cut him is Kenpachi (who can cut the espada with the strongest Hierro) and Byakuya's Senbonzakura kageyoshi couldn't damage Yammy's Hierro and was just bouncing off of him.
Furthermore by the end of the fight it was already the end of the Arrancar Arc meaning it was a hard fought battle between Yammy and the two of them and on top of that he was able to harm Byakuya who is faster than the Espada with the fastest Sonido and when Kenpachi and Byakuya came back the Soul reapers were shocked at how badly hurt both of them were. I'd say he deserved his rank especially considering Kenpachi is such an anomaly and also the manga was rushed during this time but I don't like it.
theres something in the Cant Fear Your Own World light novel regarding starrk that i think youd find very interesting
shunsui's abilities are truly terrifying when you can twist the idea's of a game for life and death, thinking in a more western style, freeze tag would literally stop all your bodies functions maybe even your consciousness,
If they strike at specific mentioned colour, then damage will be high.
There was one in which the one who is at a higher height will have their attack very powerful. When shunsui uses shadow power, then at that moment he himself is vulnerable to the same kind of shadow attack.
But I don't get it how love aikawa's shikai physical damage didn't do anything to those wolves but Shunsui sword's air attack 'Bushogoma' wiped them out. They were part of Starrk's soul. That is very bad ability. He will keep getting weaker if his soul pieces keeps dying.
The thing about stark is that he’s so monstrously powerful that he could create those wolves indefinitely
With regard to the additional things that start getting shown in the anime: around this time in bleach’s development Kubo was in constant back and forth with his editors because they were just trying to rush him and there was apparently so much he didn’t get to show in the manga because the anime was catching up so quickly. This is why I don’t think these scenes of Haribel were ever shown, just like the forest of the menos and tbh I think it’s also why we didn’t get a better hints of Yammy being #0 bc it seemed like an uncharacteristically random reveal for kubo. Bleach is one of my favorite stories but kubo wasn’t able to say everything he wanted bc of his editors.
I guess, yami being number 0 is because his power level is inconsistent as it is powered by anger so he sometimes can be weaker than for example number 9 or he can be stronger than number 5 that's why I think the number 0 exists for him because his mood is always different. But that's my theory I don't know if am right.
Starrk my favorite character in anime 🙏 his character is so tragic and is so relatable 💔
The only one to blame for starks downfall was stark himself. His lackluster motivation ruined him. And his assumption that shunui was exactly like him spelled his death. Yes, they are alike in many ways but shunsui was raised by Shigekuni Yamamoto.
yes starrks desire to be weak and lack of motivation hamstrung him sure but this guy has been an arrancar for what a few months? Even if he had been serious all Starrk would have done is forced Shunsui to use bankai anyway
Kioraku's abilities are the coolest idea in the manga, in my opinion. You can see how Kubo enjoys every shot with Shunsui.
Except for the eyepatch 😂 (old manga readers know)
Kyoraku should throw a sphere of Kido at someone while yelling "Dodgeball!"
5:07 appropriately peak Sixth Ranger (from the team with among best suits of Sentai/PR) for a Peak hollow.
Starrk's loneliness shows just how much the Hollow evolution path can backfire on those going through it. As even through their life and death struggles to grow or at least not regress most we see in flashbacks developed some connections, gangs, lord and subjects and such, showing that want for companionship stays in a hollow. And Starrk's power took that away from him, Barragan was at least able to have his main court around him a lot and be in speaking distance of regular subjects while Ulq's loneliness was pretty much self inflicted after leaving a group who can survive his power so only 1 of the Natural Vasto Lorde Arrancar had it backfire that hard despite wanting it. So what did the OG version of Starrk and Lilynette do when they stood at the peak of the path so many hollow are on...look back and wish to be weak again within those hordes and split itself AND still wasn't weak enough to have connections with most hollows. And then within Aizen's hollow army while there is now an ability to make connections the environment barely allows new connections to be deep so 99% of relationships there are pre-established, only true exception is like Tesra and Nnitora and that involved an in love and deeply loyal subordinate, even when a chance came to fill that hole the dog eat dog part of the army still kept some distance between Starrk and his possible friends. And then on the battlefield he meets a man who in any other situation but an active war, Shunsui would be willing to be friends with a member of an enemy species if it also meant future conflicts would not occur (underhanded but light-hearted way to win), could have been his friend. A pretty sad fate for a hollow that is still so deeply human. Why alongside how cool his powerset is he stands up there in my top 3 Espada.
Also I think Shunsui's ability to bring games into the fight relies on a level of age and long term relevancy within Japan (or just the East in general) to work given the games he uses so those he has a chance to fully understand normally and not just auto given, so it should actually be Baseball being brought forth instead of Basketball. An appropriate limit to one of those Zanpakuto that is in the league of "As strong as Bankai in Shikai and whose Bankai are the equiv to a spiritual nuke".
Appropriately cool part of Manga to end on, of Aizen looking at the scope of his enemies and just calming stating who they are in a "bet" type situation.
Ya find out in the LN Aizen finishing off harribel is actually him sparing her and it’s intentional she becomes the new queen of Hueco Mundo along with Nel.
I'm sad to this day that Starrk didn't join the Shinigami. I know how improbable it was, but there was something inside me expecting things to turn better. It's just so sad :(
The time is nearly upon us. The epic battle with Aizen!
Yammi's ability is to store up his power without limit, so given enough time he could be as strong as Stark or even stronger.
I don't like it either tbh but it does kinda explain why we didn't see much from him.
These videos really surprise me on how in dept it goes about each scenes and each characters ...
Never looked at Stark that way, but now I have a whole other view about him.
The Hallibel backstory is indeed canon
Kubo recently gave us some information about the Aizen and Starrk encounter, just give a look.
Stark not only the Primera Espada but he is my favorite espada. So sad he cared about his friends unrequitedly
aizen really had so much respect to starrk that he only resumed his plan exactly after his death. and it may seem that hialibel is underdeveloped (imo she is well developed, because her purpose of joining aizen was sacrificing her freedom in order to gain power to protect her girls which is also her aspect of death "sacrifice") but she still has a role in the furute
5:28 not just that the lone wolf kinda doesn't exist and if one exists they won't for long, so stark was in this "unnatural" position that he feels the wrongness of and even though all we saw of them in las noches was him being "alone together with lilinet by himself" he doesn't need to be all sticky with his comrades because knowing that they're there is sort of enough for him bc it's a big step from total isolation, (although you can make the assumption that had they all been friendlier and more like a family he would've felt even happier) so when they're confronted by losing everyone they first shut down but then even the part of stark that had initially lost all the little steam they had gets mobilized bc at the end of the day going back to complete loneliness is something all of stark loaths
The reason why Yammi is above everyone else is because the only factor for the ranking of the espada is "what is the max reastui that you have". Things like abilities, inteliggence, regeneration(ulquiorra), 2nd releases(ulquiorra), speed, etc, none of these matter so Yammi is number 0 cause initially he doesn´t have higher reatsui levels than other espadas but since his power of Rage makes it possible to infinitly increase his reastui by getting angrier than he has the potencial to surpass all of them, he just needs to be mad
Stark is also a naturally born Arrancar so he´s naturally stronger, the fact he was kiling hollows around him is not just because he does have an insane amount of spiritual pressure but it´s also the fact he wasn´t controlling it as much as others. Stark was probably the last Espada to be recruited since when Aizen approches when he is already wearing his white coat and back hair. Kubo also revealed recently that Aizen was aware of the existance of the OG Stark but waited to get stronger and also him to split himself in 2 before approaching them, meaning that Stark was the only Espada to receive Aizen´s respect
So are you no longer watching the anime along with your readings?
Great to hear your thoughts on the anime-only Haribel flashback, but the arc has a lot of woven in anime-only character stuff too. Stark's fight specifically is significantly different in the anime, and I found the additions they made were more poignant than the manga.
Loly also had some anime-only character development that made me actually like her character, while in the manga she is just pretty straight up irredeemable.
(Also, one kinda interesting point the Haribel flashback adds that I saw someone point out once, is that it adds a since of naive irony to her relationship with Aizen, where she literally meets Aizen when he cuts down one of his own minion hollows, so why is she surprised that eventually he did the same to her😂.)
RIP to the GOAT mr. Primera Espada himself!
Shusui's ability is basically just transforming the fight he's in from a Bleach one, to a No Game No Life one.
17:00 Agamotto, did you notice that yammi wasn't in the picture
I didn’t but I’m okay with it!
Fun lil tidbit about Starrk, or rather the Hollow that would become Starrk and Lilynette. According to recent interview with Kubo, Aizen was aware of this Hollow for quite some time, but their power was so great that Aizen was actually hesitant to approach them. It was only after they divided that Aizen felt comfortable going to meet them, and even then he's pretty cautious about it. The idea that pre-division Starrk may have been comparable or possibly superior to Aizen in spirit energy is pretty dope
Around 9:56 It's not just games, its childs game, stuff like reach a certain person but you can only move when he isn't looking. He uses a lot of Japanese child games, obviously, but it's just child games, not games in general. It's not that OP... But it's pretty op if you are smart.
It's actually extremely op because it FORCES anyone to obey it's rules, but it has a huge weak point, Shunsui has to obey the rules also or pay the price.
Starrk gang pour one out ✊🏼😔
I can never forgive Shunsui for killing Starrk. Starrk didn't wanna fight and was chill, but he was pushed by Shunsui. The most preventable death in Bleach 😭
The ranking numbers are kinda there just for some form of order,
For example, Ulquiorra isn't really rank 4, Aizen DID know about what Ulquiorra could do and knew it was needed to push Ichigo to his limits, but him being ranked 4th means he would stay in Hueco and not go with them to fake Karakura town.
After this week's episode, of *course* Kyoraku couldn't have used bankai here
I really think you should come back to Stark's meeting with Aizen after you see how the Soul Society vs Aizen war pans out in the end.
Given what we learn about Aizen, I think it really recontextualizes the relationship between them, much in the same way that what we learn about Stark here recontextualizes the reactions we have seen from him up to this point.
I find it super interesting how Aizen finds Starrk. Starrk is an incredibly powerful vasto lorde, yet Aizen never noticed him until after he left would society? He doesn’t recruit him with force and Stark willingly not only joined Aizen, but is also very aloof and lazy. Meaning he would never have a reason to Rebell unlike the other arrancar. I get the feeling Starrk is closer to Aizen in power than Aizen himself lets on. And the fact that it took 3 captains with sucker punches to take him out says a lot. Unlike Barragan he also never got an upgrade in power by the Hogyoku. He was a natural arrancar like Ulquiorra.
Im soo glad you enjoyed Starrk's character and everything you just mentioned and then some is exactly why he's my favorite out of all of the Espada. In other circumstances he could've been the bridge to Hollows and Soul reapers and though you say he would've gotten along well with Shunsui he and Harribel would've been great friends with Ichigo as they all deeply care for those close to them
In terms of Starrk's ability they are indeed underwhelming there's no doubt there especially compared to decaying everything around you but the arsenal Starrk has is insane. Cero guns that can fire enough of them to block out the sky, Tearing his soul into wolves, manipuplating them into swords, some other things he could've shot from his gun which Shunsui was implying. It makes you wonder why does he have soo much to himself.
Yammy being 0 and not killing any hollows keep in mind thats when he releases in which we never really see any hollows close by except for one but even then I'd imagine he isnt Starrk's level until he gets to a certain point. Starrk however without release was making mountains out of them.
Lastly in terms of Harribel's backstory it's a bit up in the air on it's canonicity but Kubo was definitely involved in the anime during this time and had written certain scenes to it and not to mention the manga was rushed during this time as was the Ulqiora fight so it's most likely a scene that Kubo did indeed add that he wasn't able to prior.
22:35 What is this awesome background music and where is it from?