Bleach is a smash-hit shonen action series packed with powerful and memorable characters, starting with Ichigo Kurosaki himself. In the show's first season, Ichigo was little more than an amateur swordsman, but by the end, he was enormously powerful as the show's star. Some other characters, though, were actually too strong for their own good.
In an action show like Bleach, it is critical to scale up the power levels smoothly and make sure that the characters are reasonably balanced, and Bleach pulled this off plenty of times. However, there are some cases of characters being unfairly powerful, and this could disrupt the narrative. A too-strong hero won't create much tension, and a too-strong villain calls for contrived or cheap solutions to defeat, which is less than satisfying. Who is OP in Bleach?
10 Captain Kenpachi Zaraki Was Cool But Too Tough
Captain Kenpachi Zaraki is defined by his bloodlust and incredible strength, and that makes him compelling and exciting to watch, for sure. The problem is that he is seemingly unkillable, and thus he becomes a vehicle for action scenes more than anything. A character shouldn't be reduced to that.
Kenpachi is simply as strong as the story needs him to be, whether in the Hueco Mundo story arc or the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, and it can hurt the immersion somewhat. His life is never in serious danger, which makes him a bit less sympathetic.
9 Only One Trick Could Take Down Barragan Luisenbarn
The 2nd Espada, Barragan Luisenbarn, is notorious for his seemingly foolproof powers. Each of the ten Espadas embodies an aspect of death, and Barragan's is the scariest: old age. With his abilities, anything that comes too close will rapidly age, rot and dissolve away, without mercy.
That's a cool power, but in practice, it makes him nigh-unbeatable, which is aggressively setting up Bleach to use a cheap trick to kill him. The solution was fairly clever: the Visored named Hachigen teleported his rotting hand into Barragan's body, thus causing Barragan to rot from within. Imagine if Hachigen hadn't been there.
8 Gerard Valkyrie Had Strength Without Limit
One of the most powerful Sternritter was Gerard Valkyrie, who was Sternritter "M," or The Miracle. His ability allows him to get stronger and recover if a battle goes badly for him, and this happened more than once. If he is getting beaten up, a miracle will occur.
That was cool the first time, but after a point, Gerard kept getting stronger, and he conveniently had a solution for everything the Soul Reapers did to him. He only died when king Yhwach absorbed his powers near the end of the story. Otherwise, Gerard was unbeatable, and that's unfair.
7 Ulquiorra Only Died Because Ichigo Had A Secret Vasto Lorde Form
The 4th Espada, Ulquiorra Schiffer, was simply too strong for the hero, Ichigo Kurosaki, to defeat. Ichigo did vanquish Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, but that fight was a close call, and Ulquiorra ranked two places higher than Grimmjow among the Espadas. How can Ichigo hope to win?
Ulquiorra defeated and killed Ichigo at his best, only for a previously-unseen Vasto Lorde form to take over Ichigo's body and turn the tables. That was exciting but also felt a bit convenient and cheap. Even Ichigo himself thought so.
6 Yammy Llargo Grew Stronger From Anger
The 10th Espada, Yammy Llargo, changes ranks whenever he releases his zanpakuto, Ira. He becomes #0 because there are zero limits to his strength and anger in this form. He becomes a massive beast and keeps gaining toughness and power as his enemies agitate him in battle.
Even Ichigo at his best barely put a dent in him, so Captain Byakuya Kuchiki and Kenpachi took over. They fought the limitless Yammy off-screen, and somehow, they won. But it's not clear how, and this feels rather suspicious. If Yammy had a limit to his strength, this victory would have been more believable.
5 Kisuke Urahara Could Crush Practically Anyone With Impunity
Kisuke Urahara was introduced early in the show as an eccentric shop owner and spirit expert, and he also helped train Ichigo Kurosaki right before the Soul Society arc began. He is also a former Captain and a master of all things kido.
Ichigo needs strong allies, but Kisuke is really pushing it. Anytime he shows up to help fight the Arrancars, victory is assured, and his enemies are all wary of him. The tension is quickly lost if Kisuke's talents are brought to bear.
4 Sosuke Aizen Was Effectively Invincible
The traitor Captain Sosuke Aizen is Bleach's version of the mighty Madara Uchiha, a juggernaut final boss who can take on entire waves of good guys and defeat them all. He was stronger than any of the Espadas, and many Soul Reapers and Visoreds fell to him.
Aizen had the benefit of swordplay, kido spells, an illusion-based shikai, and strategy on his side, and he should have been unbeatable. Conveniently, Ichigo underwent yet more training to achieve a one-off form to defeat him with help from Kisuke. That's a sign that Aizen was simply too powerful.
3 Captain Shunsui Kyoraku Is Loaded With Powers
The commander of squad 8 is Shunsui Kyoraku, who is far more powerful than his easygoing personality would suggest. He is a longtime veteran who is near-unbeatable unless he is facing Aizen, and he has many shikai and bankai abilities at his disposal.
Kyoraku's full arsenal of abilities is too long to name, but suffice it to say, there is little to fear when he shows up. All tension is lost when he takes over a fight since he will always have something unexpected that can defeat the enemy.
2 Bazz-B Is Somehow Stronger Than Toshiro Hitsugaya
One of the mighty Sternritter is Bazz-B, who has a power called The Heat. As expected, his abilities are based on fire, and he was inexplicably powerful when facing the icy Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya. The heroes never got a chance to defeat him, and instead, it was Jugram Haschwalth who defeated him.
It's important to make a character like this strong, but it feels like a power creep to have him this powerful, and Toshiro ought to have had a fighting chance against him. Perhaps it would have been best if he and Toshiro were equal in strength instead.
1 Mask De Masculine Only Died To A Surprise Bankai
Another too-powerful Sternritter was Mask de Masculine, whose power, The Superstar, made him stronger when his little fan James cheers him on. Mask can defeat low-ranked Soul Reapers with ease, but he can also overwhelm Captains with ease, which may raise some eyebrows.
If Mask can defeat Kensei Muguruma and Ryojuro Otoribashi (Visored Captains) with ease, then he is simply unbeatable unless a new power is conveniently unveiled. In this case, Lieutenant Renji Abarai had a brand-new bankai that took Mask down. That felt a bit cheap.