I ended up inadvertantly writing this all as a result of a runaway post in the main, manga thoughts topic. But it was far too long for me to inflict on the poor unwitting public. So instead I'm going to put all of it here. Because what else would I really do with this junk?
*
If I had some sort of weird, Bleach-specific magical wand, there are definitely some changes I'd make.
I'd start immediately after the end of the Soul Society arc, and start by inserting a decently sized filler arc, something light and with more humor. I'd keep the first few Arrancar incursions mostly the same, but splice in more filler between them.
They'd go into Hueco Mundo and I wouldn't change anything until the Nnoitora fight. I'd definitely change the end of that though, I'm not entirely certain how. I'd probably use the opportunity to push Zaraki forward a bit? Possibly have him awaken his Shikai near the end of the fight and use that to win.
From there, we'd move into the fight with Ulquorria, that would go similarly, but with a different ending and significantly less angst. Ichigo pulls his Bankai and his Hollow Mask and he starts strong, but Ulquorria uses his Resurrecion and turns the tables, then does his Second Resurrecion and simply curbstomps Ichigo and kills him. Ichigo ends up going Full Hollow as he did originally, and ends up beating down Ulquorria in return.
That fight goes on for a little while, then we go into Ichigo's mindscape again and we have another confrontation in there. Ichigo, Zangetsu and Ichigo's Hollow. I'm not sure exactly how it would go, but the general idea is to revisit his fight against his Hollow and his later meeting with Zangetsu. Perhaps do the occasional flash to the outside goings on as more of his friends congregate on the roof and watch as he pummels the shit out of Ulquorria.
In the end, Ichigo obviously succeeds in his mindscape, but I'm not sure of the exact situation outside. Either he's pummeled Ulquorria black and bloody and bruised, or he's just flat out killed him and is prepared to, or has already turned on his friends. Either way he stops, regains himself and forcibly tears off his mask. His friends are relieved, everything's awesome. If Ulquorria is still alive, Ichigo just blows him off and leaves. Maybe throw in something about it not being fair anymore? Or that Ichigo is just too strong now.
We then descend into the Dome again, if anyone hadn't gone up top to watch the show then we regroup there. Yammy hasn't shown up yet.
The other captains inform Ichigo of the situation. Aizen and the Fake Karakura town.
There's a problem with the Gargantua, either they can't open one or they can't stabilize it. Either way Nell comes forward and says that all Espada can do so, and that she can help if Orihime fixes her mask. Orihime does so and Nell is restored to her adult form.
Nell opens/stabilizes the Gargantua and a route is opened to the Fake Karakura town. Ichigo, Nell and Orihime all enter and the rest either decline to go or are preventing from going by the Gargantua suddenly and unexpectedly closing.
We immediately switch over to the Fake Karakura Town and the arrival of Aizen's party.
In total we have the following;
Let me think of what to do here...
Aizen clearly cannot be allowed to fight so soon, that would just be anticlimactic and dull. The obvious route to go is to simply have Aizen arrogantly order the Espada into battle while he, Gin and Tosen simply observe from above. Aizen's mere presence and cold superiority is obviously going to be a very stifling presence, both for the Espada and the Shinigami.
Barragon will summon his throne, just as he did originally and send four of his Fraccion to the pillars in order to destroy them, this will unfold as it did originally with three being killed, and one succeeding but being killed anyway.
Barragon's two remaining fraccion, along with Hallibel's three will then be sent against the remaining Vice-Captains. This should be a reasonably quick, but fairly chaotic free for all. Kill off Barragon's remaining two fraccion but leave Hallibel's alive and incapacitate the remaining Vice-Captains.
Hitsugaya then intervenes against Hallibel's fraccion on behalf of the Vice-Captains and they summon Allon, who he then fights. Hitsugaya has a hard time against it and the three Fraccion taunt him about how he'll never possibly match up to Hallibel if he can't even match Allon.
In the end, Hitsugaya manages to defeat Allon, but is completely spent by his victory and out of commission along with the Vice-Captains. Hallibel's three Fraccion are of course shocked by Hitsugaya and want to take him down, but Hallibel simply tells them to stand down as she and the other Espada step up and enter the fray.
Starrk and Lilynette fight against Shunsui and Ukitake, the match-up was a good idea in canon. So let's just replicate it. Shunsui fights Stark and Ukitake chases Lilynette, not taking anything seriously. At some point during this Ukitake comes down in a coughing fit and Lilynette looks at him and wonders if he's dying or something.
Hallibel's first opponent will be Soi-Fon. Soi-Fon will start out with her Shikai, but Hallibel will be able to nullify the danger somehow. This will cause Soi-Fon to resort to using Flash Cry, but Hallibel will be similarly unaffected. In the end Soi-Fon will be prideful and potentially reminiscent of Yoruichi before activating her Bankai in an attempt to take down Hallibel, but she will simply activate her Resurreccion and Soi-Fon will be put out of commission afterward.
Barragon will probably just continue to sit on his throne, possibly make conversation with Yamamoto?
Komamura won't be doing anything important, except maybe focusing on Tosen who will have done fuck-all. In fact maybe lead into the next stage with Komamura shouting at those three traitors?
Flash over to Ichigo, Nell and Orihime who are still in transit. Nell is in her adult form. Ichigo plans to end the war with the first strike. They exit the Gargantua and unfortunately Ichigo's gambit fails. Either because Aizen guarded his neck like he did originally, or because Aizen simply mitigates it with pure skill and reflex.
Either way, Ichigo, Nell and Orihime all arrive, and Ichigo fails to kill Aizen immediately.
Aizen notices Nell and comments on her presence and apparent alliance with Ichigo, Nell likely remains silent. Possibly Ichigo defends her?
Either way, Ichigo mouths off to Aizen.
I'm not entirely sure what should happen here. Either;
A. Yamamoto decides that it's his place to fight the traitor Aizen. Ichigo gets into an argument with him over it, and in the end Yamamoto puts him in a Hado and faces Aizen anyway.
B. Aizen will refuse to fight Ichigo himself and will instead summon Wonderweiss as Ichigo's opponent. Ichigo will humorously disbelieve, but then Wonderweiss will smash into him and Aizen will reveal that Wonderweiss is the only Vasto Lorde among the Espada.
Hallibel will face down Nell and likely call her predecessor a traitor. Nell will fight Hallibel and likely be forced to assume her Resurreccion just as Hallibel had. Nell will eventually win the fight, but Hallibel will simply be put out of commission and not killed.
Starrk assumes his Resurreccion and fights Shunsui and Ukitake two on one. He'll put a great deal of pressure on them both with his sheer, overwhelming power, but they'll be able to hold their own. At least until Ukitake comes down with another bout of illness and Shunsui has to cover for him, putting them both out of commission.
Tosen finally descends into the fray and fights Komamura. They're even for a bit until Tosen reveals his new Hollow Mask, then his Hollow Form, allowing him to defeat Komamura.
Gin won't fight yet, but will wander amongst the fray, doing his jerk thing. Maybe talk with Rangiku, or torment Orihime?
Yamamoto will try to face against Aizen. Barragon will get between them however, but Yamamoto will simply smash him away with little effort.
(Jesus Christ this is getting long)
We move over to Hueco Mundo for a moment and there's a GIANT Gargantua open, with everyone who was there defeated and bloodied around it. Yammy is the Number Zero Espada and easily dispatched everyone who was left with the intention of joining Aizen in the Fake Karakura Town. He'll be dealt with by the Vaizard. But there are two ways to go about this. Either;
A. Do not show Yammy in the first scene and instead immediately move back to the Fake Karakura Town and reveal the same giant Gargantua and have a released Zero Yammy exit. Then have the Vaizard arrive and face him down.
B. Have Yammy released and holding up a bloodied captain in Hueco Mundo, then have the Gargantua seal itself and the Vaizard challenge him in Hueco Mundo.
Doesn't really matter which, it should be self-contained.
At the same time in the Fake Karakura Town. Barragon pulls himself up and releases his Resurreccion and appears to be intent on fighting Yamamoto with Aizen, only for Urahara and Yoruichi to appear and fight him instead.
At the same time, something will happen with Ichigo and Isshin will bail him out. Isshin will provide some sort of inspiration to Ichigo and face down Stark. Depending on how things went, Ichigo will finally be able to break out of the Hado, and will then put down Wonderweiss in a single hit, but not kill him just yet or even force a Resureccion.
Let's see...
Stark is fighting Isshin.
Urahara and Yoruichi are fighting Barragon.
Yamamoto is fighting Aizen.
Gin and Tosen are doing nothing...
I suppose have Ichigo fight against Gin and Tosen while the Stark versus Isshin and Urahara+Yoruichi versus Barragon fights go down. Leave the Yamamoto versus Aizen fight conspiciously uncovered however.
Obviously Isshin, Urahara and Yoruichi pull wins against their respective opponents. But Ichigo's fight against Gin and Tosen doesn't come to fruition when Aizen finishes off Yamamoto. Aizen's victory could be either legitimate or through some form of exotic cheating. Either way, after doing so Aizen essentially just declares himself the victor of the war.
Actually if the Vaizard faced Yammy in Hueco Mundo this would be a good time for them to emerge into the Fake Karakura town, victorous. They face off against Gin and Tousen and send Ichigo against Aizen.
And how Ichigo's fight with Aizen goes and more importantly how it ends is really all up to what the next arc would be?
*
If I had some sort of weird, Bleach-specific magical wand, there are definitely some changes I'd make.
I'd start immediately after the end of the Soul Society arc, and start by inserting a decently sized filler arc, something light and with more humor. I'd keep the first few Arrancar incursions mostly the same, but splice in more filler between them.
They'd go into Hueco Mundo and I wouldn't change anything until the Nnoitora fight. I'd definitely change the end of that though, I'm not entirely certain how. I'd probably use the opportunity to push Zaraki forward a bit? Possibly have him awaken his Shikai near the end of the fight and use that to win.
From there, we'd move into the fight with Ulquorria, that would go similarly, but with a different ending and significantly less angst. Ichigo pulls his Bankai and his Hollow Mask and he starts strong, but Ulquorria uses his Resurrecion and turns the tables, then does his Second Resurrecion and simply curbstomps Ichigo and kills him. Ichigo ends up going Full Hollow as he did originally, and ends up beating down Ulquorria in return.
That fight goes on for a little while, then we go into Ichigo's mindscape again and we have another confrontation in there. Ichigo, Zangetsu and Ichigo's Hollow. I'm not sure exactly how it would go, but the general idea is to revisit his fight against his Hollow and his later meeting with Zangetsu. Perhaps do the occasional flash to the outside goings on as more of his friends congregate on the roof and watch as he pummels the shit out of Ulquorria.
In the end, Ichigo obviously succeeds in his mindscape, but I'm not sure of the exact situation outside. Either he's pummeled Ulquorria black and bloody and bruised, or he's just flat out killed him and is prepared to, or has already turned on his friends. Either way he stops, regains himself and forcibly tears off his mask. His friends are relieved, everything's awesome. If Ulquorria is still alive, Ichigo just blows him off and leaves. Maybe throw in something about it not being fair anymore? Or that Ichigo is just too strong now.
We then descend into the Dome again, if anyone hadn't gone up top to watch the show then we regroup there. Yammy hasn't shown up yet.
The other captains inform Ichigo of the situation. Aizen and the Fake Karakura town.
There's a problem with the Gargantua, either they can't open one or they can't stabilize it. Either way Nell comes forward and says that all Espada can do so, and that she can help if Orihime fixes her mask. Orihime does so and Nell is restored to her adult form.
Nell opens/stabilizes the Gargantua and a route is opened to the Fake Karakura town. Ichigo, Nell and Orihime all enter and the rest either decline to go or are preventing from going by the Gargantua suddenly and unexpectedly closing.
We immediately switch over to the Fake Karakura Town and the arrival of Aizen's party.
In total we have the following;
Aizen's Side:
Aizen
Gin
Tosen
Stark
Barragon
Hallibel
Wonderweiss
The Fraccion
Stark's 1 (Lilynette)
Barragon's 6
Hallibel's 3 + Allon
Shinigami Side:
Yamamoto
Soi-Fon
Komamura
Shunsui
Hitsugaya
Ukitake
The Vaizard (4 Captains and 4 Vice-Captains)
The Various Vice-Captains
And eventually;
Urahara
Yoruichi
Isshin
Aizen
Gin
Tosen
Stark
Barragon
Hallibel
Wonderweiss
The Fraccion
Stark's 1 (Lilynette)
Barragon's 6
Hallibel's 3 + Allon
Shinigami Side:
Yamamoto
Soi-Fon
Komamura
Shunsui
Hitsugaya
Ukitake
The Vaizard (4 Captains and 4 Vice-Captains)
The Various Vice-Captains
And eventually;
Urahara
Yoruichi
Isshin
Aizen clearly cannot be allowed to fight so soon, that would just be anticlimactic and dull. The obvious route to go is to simply have Aizen arrogantly order the Espada into battle while he, Gin and Tosen simply observe from above. Aizen's mere presence and cold superiority is obviously going to be a very stifling presence, both for the Espada and the Shinigami.
Barragon will summon his throne, just as he did originally and send four of his Fraccion to the pillars in order to destroy them, this will unfold as it did originally with three being killed, and one succeeding but being killed anyway.
Barragon's two remaining fraccion, along with Hallibel's three will then be sent against the remaining Vice-Captains. This should be a reasonably quick, but fairly chaotic free for all. Kill off Barragon's remaining two fraccion but leave Hallibel's alive and incapacitate the remaining Vice-Captains.
Hitsugaya then intervenes against Hallibel's fraccion on behalf of the Vice-Captains and they summon Allon, who he then fights. Hitsugaya has a hard time against it and the three Fraccion taunt him about how he'll never possibly match up to Hallibel if he can't even match Allon.
In the end, Hitsugaya manages to defeat Allon, but is completely spent by his victory and out of commission along with the Vice-Captains. Hallibel's three Fraccion are of course shocked by Hitsugaya and want to take him down, but Hallibel simply tells them to stand down as she and the other Espada step up and enter the fray.
Starrk and Lilynette fight against Shunsui and Ukitake, the match-up was a good idea in canon. So let's just replicate it. Shunsui fights Stark and Ukitake chases Lilynette, not taking anything seriously. At some point during this Ukitake comes down in a coughing fit and Lilynette looks at him and wonders if he's dying or something.
Hallibel's first opponent will be Soi-Fon. Soi-Fon will start out with her Shikai, but Hallibel will be able to nullify the danger somehow. This will cause Soi-Fon to resort to using Flash Cry, but Hallibel will be similarly unaffected. In the end Soi-Fon will be prideful and potentially reminiscent of Yoruichi before activating her Bankai in an attempt to take down Hallibel, but she will simply activate her Resurreccion and Soi-Fon will be put out of commission afterward.
Barragon will probably just continue to sit on his throne, possibly make conversation with Yamamoto?
Komamura won't be doing anything important, except maybe focusing on Tosen who will have done fuck-all. In fact maybe lead into the next stage with Komamura shouting at those three traitors?
Flash over to Ichigo, Nell and Orihime who are still in transit. Nell is in her adult form. Ichigo plans to end the war with the first strike. They exit the Gargantua and unfortunately Ichigo's gambit fails. Either because Aizen guarded his neck like he did originally, or because Aizen simply mitigates it with pure skill and reflex.
Either way, Ichigo, Nell and Orihime all arrive, and Ichigo fails to kill Aizen immediately.
Aizen notices Nell and comments on her presence and apparent alliance with Ichigo, Nell likely remains silent. Possibly Ichigo defends her?
Either way, Ichigo mouths off to Aizen.
I'm not entirely sure what should happen here. Either;
A. Yamamoto decides that it's his place to fight the traitor Aizen. Ichigo gets into an argument with him over it, and in the end Yamamoto puts him in a Hado and faces Aizen anyway.
B. Aizen will refuse to fight Ichigo himself and will instead summon Wonderweiss as Ichigo's opponent. Ichigo will humorously disbelieve, but then Wonderweiss will smash into him and Aizen will reveal that Wonderweiss is the only Vasto Lorde among the Espada.
Hallibel will face down Nell and likely call her predecessor a traitor. Nell will fight Hallibel and likely be forced to assume her Resurreccion just as Hallibel had. Nell will eventually win the fight, but Hallibel will simply be put out of commission and not killed.
Starrk assumes his Resurreccion and fights Shunsui and Ukitake two on one. He'll put a great deal of pressure on them both with his sheer, overwhelming power, but they'll be able to hold their own. At least until Ukitake comes down with another bout of illness and Shunsui has to cover for him, putting them both out of commission.
Tosen finally descends into the fray and fights Komamura. They're even for a bit until Tosen reveals his new Hollow Mask, then his Hollow Form, allowing him to defeat Komamura.
Gin won't fight yet, but will wander amongst the fray, doing his jerk thing. Maybe talk with Rangiku, or torment Orihime?
Yamamoto will try to face against Aizen. Barragon will get between them however, but Yamamoto will simply smash him away with little effort.
(Jesus Christ this is getting long)
We move over to Hueco Mundo for a moment and there's a GIANT Gargantua open, with everyone who was there defeated and bloodied around it. Yammy is the Number Zero Espada and easily dispatched everyone who was left with the intention of joining Aizen in the Fake Karakura Town. He'll be dealt with by the Vaizard. But there are two ways to go about this. Either;
A. Do not show Yammy in the first scene and instead immediately move back to the Fake Karakura Town and reveal the same giant Gargantua and have a released Zero Yammy exit. Then have the Vaizard arrive and face him down.
B. Have Yammy released and holding up a bloodied captain in Hueco Mundo, then have the Gargantua seal itself and the Vaizard challenge him in Hueco Mundo.
Doesn't really matter which, it should be self-contained.
At the same time in the Fake Karakura Town. Barragon pulls himself up and releases his Resurreccion and appears to be intent on fighting Yamamoto with Aizen, only for Urahara and Yoruichi to appear and fight him instead.
At the same time, something will happen with Ichigo and Isshin will bail him out. Isshin will provide some sort of inspiration to Ichigo and face down Stark. Depending on how things went, Ichigo will finally be able to break out of the Hado, and will then put down Wonderweiss in a single hit, but not kill him just yet or even force a Resureccion.
Let's see...
Stark is fighting Isshin.
Urahara and Yoruichi are fighting Barragon.
Yamamoto is fighting Aizen.
Gin and Tosen are doing nothing...
I suppose have Ichigo fight against Gin and Tosen while the Stark versus Isshin and Urahara+Yoruichi versus Barragon fights go down. Leave the Yamamoto versus Aizen fight conspiciously uncovered however.
Obviously Isshin, Urahara and Yoruichi pull wins against their respective opponents. But Ichigo's fight against Gin and Tosen doesn't come to fruition when Aizen finishes off Yamamoto. Aizen's victory could be either legitimate or through some form of exotic cheating. Either way, after doing so Aizen essentially just declares himself the victor of the war.
Actually if the Vaizard faced Yammy in Hueco Mundo this would be a good time for them to emerge into the Fake Karakura town, victorous. They face off against Gin and Tousen and send Ichigo against Aizen.
And how Ichigo's fight with Aizen goes and more importantly how it ends is really all up to what the next arc would be?